Journey of the Fayth Blessed
by AnimeBabe88
Summary: This is a sequel to my other story "Rikku's Ordinary World" however you don't need to read it to be able to enjoy this story. This is the tale of four children blessed by the Fayth who follow in their parent's footsteps and eventually save more than Spira
1. Chapter 1: Discovery

(A/N: Hello everyone, this is the story of Auron and Rikku's oldest child, a girl named Cressan ("Shimmer" for those of you who don't have an Al Bhed translator), and her friends Vidina and Cetan (Tidus and Yuna's son). This story is a sequel to my other Fan-fic "Rikku's Ordinary World" about 6 years after that story takes place. These children may not seem like much now but they will one day follow in their parent's footsteps and save more than Spira, but until their time comes I shall be building up to that with tales of their childhood. At this point in time Cressan is almost 6, Vidina is 8, and Cetan is 7.)

(Disclaimer: I only own the plot and the children (except Vidina), I'm sad (cries self to sleep).)

Chapter 1 Discovery

Cressan eagerly ran down the ramp of the Celsius to the entrance to Besaid Village, then turned around with her hands behind her back as she watched her father, Auron, calmly descend, followed by her toddling little brother, Desudro, and her mother, Rikku. Once her family caught up, Cressan ran ahead once again and into the home of one of her best friends, Vidina.

"About time you got here, we've been waiting forever." Vidina said as he got up from the table where he and her other best friend, Cetan, had been coloring to pass the time.

"Yeah," Cetan chimed in, getting up from the table as well, "we were just about ready to start without you."

"You two wouldn't dare," Cressan replied, her mock glare far from concealing her joy at seeing her friends again, "besides, I complete the team." She added with a smile.

The three were just about to make a dash for the doorway when Vidina's mother, Lulu, calmly called out to them, "Put away your coloring things first Vidina." The three of them returned to the table and put the crayons and paper away in Vidina's room, before quickly rushing out the door, almost knocking Auron over in the process. Quick "sorrys" were called out from the children as they disappeared behind the hut.

Rikku and Desudro entered the hut soon after Auron did. "Lulu, Yunie, we're hear." Rikku called out as she got some of Vidina's old toys out of a box in the living area for Desudro to play with.

Yuna exited the kitchen area and immediately sat down at the table beside Rikku, "Lulu will be out in a minute; she's putting dinner in the oven as we speak." Soon Lulu joins them and the three ladies chat about the past week while Auron is content to watch his son play.

The three children stopped running not far from the edge of the woods behind the line of huts. "So," Cressan asks, "how far have you gotten with your spells Vidina? Learn anything new?"

"Well," Vidina looks a little hesitant, "I tried a fire spell and managed to get a little flame, but nothing else."

"That's great Vidina, show us, show us." Cressan said, now excited.

"Ok," Vidina brought his hand up to his chest, then flung it outward, shouting "Fire" as a little fire burst into life on the ground, just enough to scorch the grass nearby, then winked out as quick as it had lit.

Cressan was ecstatic, "Wow, that's amazing Vidina, now you know two spells, Fire and Thunder."

"Yeah," Cetan said, also impressed, "just two more spells and you'll be a true black mage."

Cressan turned to Cetan, "Did you learn anything new this week, Cetan?" Cressan was almost literally bouncing on her heels with excitement. "Any new moves?"

"Well, I have been watching my dad a little more, so I did pick up this move," Cetan went over to a nearby tree and retrieved two sword-length branches from their hiding spot behind the trunk then tossed one to Cressan, who caught it with ease. Cetan got into a fighting stance, "Check this out," he called as he leapt forward and deftly sliced the air in front of him with his stick then jumped back to where he was, but lost his balance and fell on his butt. "The falling down part wasn't part of it," Cetan said as he got up and brushed off the seat of his pants, amid snickers from Vidina.

"Well you can't expect to get it right away," Cressan said laughing a little herself, "I just started practicing the move I learned yesterday, so I'm still working on it."

"Show it to us then," Vidina asked, his snickers finally ending, "you're bound to be good at it by now."

"Yeah, show us what you've learned." Cetan agreed looking just as eager as Cressan had before.

"Ok then," Cressan unshouldered her stick, brought it up in front of her and performed a basic sword drill she had watched her father do many times to warm up before doing more complicated ones. She followed the simple motions of the drill until she came to the end and reshouldered the stick, then turned to her friends with a sheepish smile, "So how'd I do?"

Both boys started clapping and Vidina said, "Looked great to me."

"Thanks," Cressan replied with her brightest smile yet, "I practiced all day yesterday, and that was actually the second time I got all of it right. The first time was yesterday just before bedtime."

"So," Cetan said, approaching the subject they were out there away from their parents for, "are we gonna fight some fiends or what?"

Back in the house, Tidus and Wakka had only just arrived after having seen the Celsius fly up from their practice spot on the beach, and were just starting to join in the conversation with their wives when a bell went off in the kitchen, signaling that dinner was done. Lulu got up and went to take the meal out of the oven when she just happened to glance out the window and see the children fighting imaginary fiends.

"Everyone get over here quick, I think you should see this." Lulu called out the others.

"What is it Lu?" Wakka called back, getting up from his seat, "Is something wrong with dinner, ya?"

"No, it's the children," Lulu replied, "I think you should see what they are doing."

At the mention of the children, all the adults got up and moved to the kitchen window and were amazed at what they saw.

"Take that you fiend!" Cetan yelled as he slashed at the invisible enemy. Cressan followed his slash with a swing of her own, then moved as Vidina shouted "Thunder" and a tiny bolt of electricity sparked at the same spot.

"One more aught to do it!" Cressan called out as she swung her stick at the same area, "Ha ha, and down it goes."

"Wait, there's one more," Vidina announced as he flung a Fire spell at another area close to Cetan, "Cetan, get down! It's about to attack!"

Cetan rolled away from the area then jumped back to his feet and slashed the area. "It's no use, its armor is to strong, it's all up to you Cressan!"

"No worries, I got it!" Cressan shouted in reply, then ran up to the area, jumped then slammed her stick against the spot, burying it about an inch into the soil, as if she had just impaled her opponent. She then pulled her stick out of the ground, shouldered it and turned to the others, "That takes care of that group, let's go look for some more."

"Sounds good to me," Cetan said as he rolled his stick wielding shoulder, "What about you Vidina?"

"That's what we fiend hunters do, isn't it?" Vidina asked with a smile.

"Yup." The other two replied, then all three moved out of sight of the window.

All the adults were stunned, the children were fighting imaginary fiends and weren't that bad at it. "I can't believe it." Tidus exclaimed, "they actually play at fighting fiends."

"And I can't believe how much Cetan resembles you, Tidus," Yuna responded, her eyes glued to the spot where the children had disappeared from view.

"And Vidina is already casting spells, even I couldn't cast that much at his age." Lulu stated with disbelief, her hands absentmindedly tending to the dinner that had been all but forgotten.

"What amazes me," Rikku said turning her eyes to her husband, "is that Cressan is mimicking your moves so easily."

"She must be watching me train, Auron replied as dryly as ever, "then practicing on her own."

"And she's pretty good at it, ya," Wakka said, adding in his two gil, "heck, they all are."

"Well anyway," Lulu turned to the rest of them, dinner is ready so, Yuna, if you would call the children in, we can all get started eating."

It was well into the evening when the group of friends decided to call it a night and head for home; the children had all fallen asleep in Vidina's room, and the adults had just heard the Celsius fly in. Yuna and Tidus woke up their son and walked across the way to their home; Rikku and Auron each picked up one of their children and headed toward the waiting airship, while Lulu put Vidina to bed properly.

While on the airship, after they had put Cressan and Desudro to bed in the cabin, Rikku approached Auron, "I really think you should start training Cressan, she has a real aptitude for your technique, Auron."

"I agree, but it's her drive I'm concerned about." Auron showed only a hint of concern in his voice, but that hint spoke volumes to Rikku, "The heavy blade isn't something to be picked up lightly, and we've only seen her play at it."

"I'm sure that they have played at it more than once, they go out ever week during these trips, and from the looks of it, they play very seriously." Rikku looked deep into his bronze eye, then kissed him, "But it is your decision, all I ask is that you consider it."

"I shall." Was all he replied.

The next morning Auron awoke to the sun on his face, he inwardly groaned and got up remembering why he had left the curtains open, he was going to attempt to train Cressan today and early morning was the best time to start any training. He had to admit that this was a little earlier than he normally got up, but he wanted to see how well his daughter responded to pre-breakfast exercise. He silently got showered and dressed, then walked down the hall to his daughter's room and opened the door. Then his jaw almost dropped as he saw his daughter doing pushups in the middle of her room, still in her pajamas.

Cressan noticed the open door and her father's boots after a few moments and looked up from her pushups with an embarrassed look on her face, "Um…good morning Dad," she said hastily getting up, "You're up early today."

"As are you," Auron states, having regathered his composure, "may I ask why you are up this early?"

"Oh, I uh," Cressan was red with embarrassment by now, "kinda always get up this early, to train you see."

Auron was once again stunned; he trained every morning then came in for breakfast, and by that time Cressan was always showered and dressed at the breakfast table. She had always been good about getting up in the morning, but he had always assumed that it was because she was hungry, not because she was training early in the morning.

"Well," Cressan was shifting under his gaze, "can I get back to training, I'm not done yet?"

"By all means," Auron replied "don't allow my presence to be a distraction."

"You mean you wanna watch me?" Cressan looked even more nervous.

"Yes," Auron said, a smile hinting at the edges of his mouth, "because after you are done I'm going to train you in the art of the sword."

Cressan instantly went from nervous to hugging her father, almost knocking him over as she collided with him, "Thanks Dad, don't worry I'll train really, really hard." Then she resumed her position on the floor and counted out six more pushups, for a grand total of ten, starched down to her toes for a count of ten, did ten sit-ups, and ten side-to-side stretches before looking up at her father, who was impressed enough for it to actually show on his face. "I just finished, Dad, unless there is something you think I forgot?"

"No, that is fine," he then turned for the door, "now get dressed and come outside, I will be waiting."

Cressan emerged from her house to the clearing that led directly to the Moonflow. She admired the view as she did every morning, but then spied her father's red coat out of the corner of her eye and ran to him.

"Ok Dad, I'm ready to start my training." All her eagerness to begin was as plain as the smile on her face.

"First, I want to ask you a few questions," He started walking towards the Moonflow, "walk with me."

After reaching the edge of the Moonflow, Auron turned to his daughter, "You understand that a sword is a dangerous weapon and not a toy." His voice warning that he was expecting an honest answer out of her.

"Yes." She replied with a serious tone that was a stark contrast to her usual attitude.

"Do you understand that the warrior's path is a hard one filled with many hardships and burdens that will break a person who makes light of them?"

"Yes."

"And that once you begin this path, there is no going back?"

Cressan looked her father square in the eye; her pair of bronze spiral eyes meeting his single bronze one, "Yes."

"Then I want you to watch me today, watch all my movements while we are outside of the house, and decide if that is the path you want to take. No," He held up his hand to silence her before she could utter a word, "think about it, and think about it hard, because if you choose this path, I will train you as if you weren't my daughter. I will train you long and I will train you hard, and if I hear you complain then I will make it even tougher, so take this time today to really think about it and make your decision tomorrow."

"Ok Dad, I'll think about it." Cressan said averting her eyes and breaking the staring contest it had become, but in her heart she had already decided, and her father's words only served to strengthen her resolve.

Meanwhile, back on Besaid, Vidina was having his first magic lesson, courtesy of his mother. "Now, the elements are fickle in nature, never wishing to go where we want them to go." She began as Vidina sat in a chair listening intently to her every word, "Any person can learn to wield black magic, but the true black mage must be the rock that guides the elements not the other way around. Those that trifle with black magic without learning to guide them properly will eventually end up hurting themselves or others when the higher level spells choose not to follow the course set out for them. If you wish to learn to be the rock that guides the elements then take this and follow me." She held out a worn old moogle in her hands, and once Vidina had taken it, she escorted him to the same clearing behind the huts that the children had been playing in the day before.

"Now," Lulu said kneeling down to look at Vidina from his eye level, "I want you to focus on that spot," she pointed to an X on the ground a few feet away, "and use a Fire spell to hit it."

"Ok, Mom," Vidina looked at the X and flung his arm out towards it and yelled "Fire". The resulting small flame was off the X, but not by much, however Lulu was not pleased.

"No, I want you to hit the exact center of the X, and I want you to use the moogle to focus it."

"Ok, I'll try," and rather than focusing his magic through his free hand like he had before he focused it through the moogle he held in his arm. This time when he flung his arm out and yelled "Fire" he succeeded in making a bigger flame and this time it was closer to the X but still not on it.

"Keep trying until you get it, Son," Lulu said a lot more gently this time, "And don't worry about your MP, I have a few ethers here to replenish it if it runs out."

Cetan watched his father and his uncle Wakka get ready to leave for the beach for blitzball practice. He plucked up his courage and ran to his father, "Dad, can I go with you to the beach today?"

"Well, I guess so, squirt," Tidus said as he ruffled his son's caramel colored hair, "Did you ask Mom first?"

Cetan kicked the dirt beneath his shoe and said quietly, "No, I didn't."

Tidus looked up and yelled into his house, "Hey Yuna, Cetan's coming with us to the beach, alright?"

Yuna poked her head out the door, "It's alright with me, just have him home in time for lunch."

"We will," Tidus replied, "see ya later, Hun."

As the three started walking to the beach, Cetan silently praised himself, now he could watch his father fight all the way to the beach and back without his father noticing. "Plus I get to watch Dad and Uncle Wakka play blitzball," he thought to himself, "Today is a good day."

A week passed by fast, and once again Rikku called up brother to take them to Besaid for their weekly dinner at Wakka and Lulu's. By the time they got there, Cressan was ready to bounce down the ramp at it opened to reveal Besaid Village. Once again Cressan bounded over to the gates of the village, waited for her parents and little brother to catch up, then ran into Vidina's house.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what." Cressan said as Vidina and Cetan hurriedly put away the crayons and paper. They had heard the airship and were frantically trying to clean up so they could leave.

"We know it's your birthday next week." Vidina stated when he and Cetan finally finished cleaning up.

"No, not that, I'll tell you out back, come on." She then grabbed both boys by the hand and ran with them around the house, once again almost knocking Auron over in the process.

When the kids came to the edge of the woods Cetan grabbed his hand back and asked, "What's going on? What are you so excited about?"

"My dad started to train me, that's what." Cressan was talking a mile a minute, "Sure it's more of the same thing that I do every morning but at least I'm getting trained, and he makes me do a lot more than I normally do, plus I get to watch him do his training without having to hide it."

"Wait," Vidina said putting a hand over Cressan's mouth, "your dad started training you?" when Cressan was quiet, Vidina removed his hand, and she nodded, "When did he start training you?"

"Six days ago, right after last week's dinner." She replied, "Why?"

"Because that's the day Mom started training me in magic, she even gave me a moogle to practice with."

"What about you Cetan," Cressan asked looking at her friend, "Did your dad start training you?"

"No, but I did manage to go with him to blitzball practice everyday this week," Cetan then looked at Vidina harshly, "because I had no one to play with."

"Sorry," Vidina said, feeling bad about leaving his friend, "I was busy training with my mom."

"But wait," Cressan said thinking hard, "Why would my dad, and your mom suddenly decide to train us?"

"That's what I was thinking," Vidina responded, "it can't be a coincidence."

"What's a coincidence?" Cressan asked.

"It means luck, Cressan," Cetan answered then turned his attention back to Vidina, "maybe they saw us during last week's training session?"

"But if they did, then why didn't your dad start training you?" Vidina asked the group in general.

"That's what I wanna know." Cetan said sounding defeated.

Then a little light went on in Cressan's head; she grabbed both boy's wrists again and said, "Let's go ask him."

The parents were sitting at the table talking about the week and the subject turned to the children's training rather quickly. "Vidina is making leaps and bounds with his black magic training, especially because he knows two of the spells already." Lulu said with pride in her voice.

"I have started training Cressan as well," Auron spoke surprising everyone a little; he rarely spoke except when spoken to, "she too is showing great promise."

"But all you've done is make her exercise," Rikku pointed out, "which, according to you she does anyway."

"I merely wish to see if her drive to continue is as strong as I believe it to be." Auron then turned his attention to the toddling Desudro, who was currently playing with some blocks on the floor not far from the couch.

"I still think that they are all too young," Tidus sighed, "this is a time of peace, they should be out enjoying themselves, and not worrying about fiends."

Yuna was just about to respond when the children came running into the house, and then stopped suddenly nearly crashing into each other like dominos. The parents all started snickering, even Auron cracked a smile, until the children all spoke at once, "One at a time," Rikku said, patting each child on the shoulder causing them to quiet down, "now, you three, what is going on?"

All three children looked at Tidus and said together, "why won't you train Cetan/me?"

"Excuse me," Tidus said as if he couldn't believe his ears, "Cetan, say that again."

"Why won't you train me, Dad? If Cressan's old enough to train then so am I."

Vidina piped up then, "We know you watched us last week, and decided to train us, so why can't Cetan learn?"

"He's part of our team too." Cressan finished.

Tidus was stunned, his son had never expressed a desire for learning his sword technique before; he had instantly assumed that Cetan wouldn't want the life of fighting, but here he was, asking to be trained at the mere age of seven. "Are you sure this is what you want Cetan, to learn my sword?"

"More than anything, Dad," Tidus stared into the blue eyes that were so much like his own, "more than anything."

Tidus thought for a long moment, he thought back to how he had been forces to learn the sword back in Zanarkand, how he had developed his sword style all on his own. "Could I really teach it to somebody else?" He asked himself, "Is teaching something I can do?" but then he looked back into his son's blue eyes, so full of determination, and decided that yes he could teach his son, and yes, teaching him is something he could do. "Ok Son, it will be difficult but I'll teach you my sword."

Cetan ran up and hugged his dad, then ran back to his friends, "Now we really are on our way to becoming real fiend hunters." Cressan said with glee as the three friends high-fived each other.

The three were just about to race out the door again when the bell signaling that the cooking was done went off, "Don't run off now, kids" Rikku shouted towards the door, "dinner just got done, so why don't you go wash your hands and sit down while it's being served?"

"Ok." The children responded before running to the bathroom to wash their hands for dinner.

Once again the adults found themselves talking well into the evening, mostly about the children's training, and by the time they had finished the children were once again asleep in Vidina's room, so each child was gently roused to be able to walk, or be carried to where they needed to go, be it bed for Vidina, across the way for Cetan, or aboard the Celsius for Cressan and Desudro.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully with Cressan continuing her muscle toning exercises with her father, Vidina's magic lessons with his mother, and Cetan's learning the basics of the quick blade with his father. Each parent looked upon their child with amazement, even Auron couldn't help but wonder, at how they could be so dedicated at such a young age.

But a few days later everyone's thoughts turned to another matter, Cressan's sixth birthday party. The Celsius gathered up both families and sped off toward the Moonflow, Cetan and Vidina just happy to be on the airship with presents for their dearest friend.

Rikku had gotten up really early to decorate the house with streamers and balloons for the upcoming party, she even made little machina poppers filled with confetti to give to the guests. Auron had told Cressan to sleep in that day and not even do her usual morning exercises, that today was a day of rest, one she should enjoy because it only comes once a year and she wouldn't get another one for quite a long while.

When the airship finally arrived, Cressan, dressed in a very cute green party dress, hugged every person that came out, which included her Uncle Brother, Buddy, Shinra (now 18), her Grandfather Cid, Cetan and his family, and Vidina and his. Rikku politely took all the gifts and placed them in a pile next to the cake.

After a birthday banquet; filled with Cressan's favorite foods, most of them a combination of Al Bhed and Spiran, specialties of her mother's cooking; and a round of "Happy Birthday" from everyone there, plus the confetti machine going off, Cressan got to cut the cake. The children all enjoyed the super sweet cake while most of the adults just took a few bites, far too sweet for them.

Then finally came Cressan's favorite part, the presents. Auron handed them to her one at a time, as she tore open the wrapping paper. From Cetan she received a pair of bracers that he had picked out for her, Cressan promised to wear them everyday from now on. Vidina gave her a glass version of a Moonflow Lily, for which she promptly hugged him and said she would place it on her dresser where she would see it every morning when she woke up. Shinra gave her, and her family, a picture frame with and ever-changing picture inside, he said that all they had to do was place a sphere with the image they wanted in the slot on the back and it would capture the image and show it in a random order with any other pictures, Cressan said that she didn't understand the explanation but thanks anyway, Rikku understood so Shinra felt better. Buddy presented her with a desert rose, which is a rare and beautiful gemstone, Cressan took it gingerly and said that she would always treasure it. From Brother she received a small model of the Celsius, for which she thanked him and said that she would play with it when ever she could. She received a special hair tie from her Grandfather Cid, it was special because it had belonged to her Grandmother before she died, Cressan immediately took the tie she had holding her braid out and switched it with her new special one. She got a drawing from little Desudro, which earned him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Her mom gave her a cute yet practical exercise outfit, for day when all she does is train, Cressan promised that she would wear it as often as possible.

Her last gift was from her dad and when she saw the long box tied with a simple ribbon, she gasped, her mind already guessing as to what it might be. Unlike the others, Cressan gently opened the deceptively heavy box, and revealed a brand new miniature version of her father's Katana. She firmly grasped the sword's hilt and lifted it up out of its box; it was very heavy in her hands but not so heavy that she couldn't hold it up. Auron gently placed his hand on her shoulder and said, "I had that sword made specially for you, my daughter, and when you are ready you will receive the tools you'll need to sharpen it."

Cressan willed her arms to put the sword gently back in its box, then flung her arms around her father and cried tears of joy into his red coat, saying "Thank you, Dad, thank you." Then she wiped the tears from her face and said, "Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts."

"Alright now," Rikku said more to the children than to anyone else, why don't you all go change into your swim suits and go play in the Moonflow." And the children promptly ran to the bathroom ant one-by-one they changed and once all three where changed they ran out the door towards the Moonflow.

While the children were playing in the water, the adults spoke with one another until the comsphere lit up with a transmission from Baralai, "Paine finally had the baby, it's a boy." He was practically glowing with pride over the comsphere, "Please come to Bevelle to meet him." Baralai didn't give a chance to answer as the comsphere dimmed signaling the end of the transmission.

Yuna sighed a happy sigh and stated, "I'll call the children, they would want to come too." Then she turned toward the door and walked to the edge of the Moonflow and called out, "Ok children, it's time to get out now."

"Aw, but we just got in," Cetan whined.

"I know, but Auntie Paine just had her baby and we're going to see them."

"Oh, wow, a baby," Cressan exclaimed wading out of the Moonflow, "and on my birthday too, that is so cool!"

"Yeah it is." Agreed Vidina as he and Cetan waded out as well.

All three were handed towels as they were hustled aboard the airship. During the hour-long flight to Bevelle, each child got showered and changed into fresh clothes. The Celsius hovered right near the main road through Bevelle, so the children and their families where only a few minutes walk from Paine and Baralai's mansion.

"I heard the Celsius and have been waiting for you," Baralai said as soon as he opened the door, "Paine's upstairs with Dyne, our son, and I'm sure she'll be happy to see you." He quickly closed the double doors and led them all upstairs.

"What," Lulu asked rather bluntly, "didn't you tell her we were coming?"

"Oh, no I didn't," Baralai stated rather dumbly, however he recovered quickly, "but I'm sure she'll be ecstatic, or at least as ecstatic as she gets anyway." Baralai quickly opened a door to a massive room with a giant four-poster bed where Paine was sitting happily with her infant son. "We're here, there he is, my first son Dyne."

Paine looked up from Dyne when the door opened, and said with a sigh, "Why am I not surprised, I knew I should have thrown that comsphere out the window the instant my contractions started." She then nodded them in, "Well, since you're all here, you might as well meet him, everyone this is Dyne."

The children made their way to the front of the group surrounding Paine and Dyne; "Aw, ra'c cu lida," Cressan squealed when she saw Dyne, "I can't believe we share a birthday."

Paine looked over at Cressan, "Oh that's right today is your birthday too, well happy birthday Cressan."

"Thank you Auntie Paine, and congratulations." Cressan then took one last look at Dyne and sees a picture in her head, a picture of a powerful white mage. Cressan taps both Cetan and Vidina on the shoulder, and motions for them to follow her, which they do.

When they reach the doorway Vidina asks, "What's up with you, why did you wanna come here?"

"Because," Cressan whispers, "I don't want the adults to hear us."

"Well what's wrong?" Cetan whispers back.

"Do you know what our team is missing?" Cressan asks, then answers herself, "A white mage, well Dyne's gonna be that white mage, I can tell."

"What makes you think that?" Vidina whispers, sparing a glance over his shoulder at the adults.

"I had a vision, kinda like a dream except I was looking at Dyne when it happened," Cressan whispered explaining herself, "I saw a powerful guy, and I mean really powerful, and he was a white mage. It just makes sense that Dyne will be the one to complete our group, he's gonna be the white mage."

"I guess so," Cetan whispered more to himself than to the others, "that would explain the vision and it would be awful nice to have a white mage in our group."

"So it's settled then , we have ourselves a white mage." Cressan whispered, and broke off the huddle just as her father was starting to approach them.

"What's going on here?" Auron asked in a low voice so as not to disturb the others.

Cressan thought quickly and replied, "Talking about super-duper-top-secret-hush-hush stuff, sorry can't tell you Dad."

The boys looked at each other then nodded in agreement, and Auron deciding that it was just children's talk, walked away with a, "Hmph" and an ever so slight smile at his daughter's antics.

When the visit with Paine was over, the children and their families returned to the waiting Celsius and prepared for the trip home. Cressan and her family were dropped off first at their home in the Moonflow, and after thanking everybody for coming to her party, she and her family returned to their house.

Rikku began the huge task of cleaning up their main room; she was now starting to regret to confetti machina she had made; while Auron put Desudro down for a late afternoon nap, and Cressan was eagerly putting away all of her presents in her room.

Cressan spent the rest of the day relaxing in her room either using or admiring her presents, or in the case of Shinra's present trying to figure it out, which she eventually did.

The next day Cressan gets up at her usual time, does her usual exercises, gets dressed in her new outfit and bracers, then grabs her new sword, and carries it outside to meet with her father.

"There are a few things you need to know before we begin the next step in your training," Auron said sitting down and, placing his sword across his lap, motioned for Cressan to join him. Once she does, he continues, "The sword you have received is a smaller version of my first sword, designed for your smaller frame, but it is a heavy sword none the less and carries with it the same responsibilities and burdens as any other sword in this class. Do you know what that means?"

Cressan looked at the sword in her lap and responded with an answer that just suddenly came to her mind, "The responsibility to protect one's comrades and the burden of being the one who can and will cause the most damage to them if one loses control."

Auron was a little shocked to hear his daughter give such an insightful answer, "Correct, this is a burden that should weigh heavily on the mind, as much as the sword weighs heavily on the body."

Auron was both pleased and proud to hear Cressan say, "It is a burden I shall bear with pride."

(A/N: phew that was a long chapter for me, a whole 20 pages, I know it may seem a little boring now but hopefully I have planted the seeds of a really good story in those 20 pages. I'm really putting myself out on a limb here with this story so please grace me with even a small review, thank you.)


	2. Chapter 2: The Trip

(A/N: Hello again and thank you for coming to the second chapter of my story, hopefully you read the first one otherwise this won't make much sense to you. This update may seem quick but a really good review got me writing more than usual recently (thank you Bonzai1990) and hopefully I can get this story out and put on the internet for all of you to read, and hopefully review. Good thoughtful reviews make me write faster so please hit that little button at the bottom of the page.)

(Disclaimer: I own the children (except Vidina) and the plot, I am only making people smile with this fic, so please do not sue me.)

Chapter 2 The Trip

The three children once again stopped running when they reached the tree line. It had been three months since Cressan's birthday party, and the children still played at fighting fiends every week when their families came together for dinner. And, like always, they shared what they had learned over the course of the week.

"Come on Vidina," Cressan asked with excitement, "Show us your spells, have you perfected them all yet?"

"Ok, ok, draw four X's on the ground." Vidina replied with a smile, he was always amused with Cressan's antics, always bursting with enthusiasm. When Cressan had finished with the fourth X, Vidina said, "Now stand back." He flung his arm at the first X, shouting "Fire," and the X burned for a moment then winked out. He then turned to the second X, shouted "Thunder," and a small lightning bolt zapped that X. Rounding on the third X and shouting, "Blizzard," a small block of ice fell on the X. Vidina turned on the final X and shouted "Water." drenching the fourth X, turning the ground to mud.

"Wow Vidina, all four elements." Cressan was examining the scorch marks from the fire spell.

"And with perfect accuracy too," Cetan clapped his friend on the shoulder, "impressive."

"My turn now," Cressan said getting up from her spot next to the scorch marks, "my dad's been teaching me the basics of the Power Break move and I think I've just about got it." She eagerly unshouldered her stick and focused on the empty spot over one of the X's that Vidina had used, then her stick began to glow ever so slightly and she slashed the air while her stick stopped glowing. "I got it, I got it! Just wait till I show my dad."

"Very nice," Vidina smiled, "now you know both Power Break and Cheer."

"Not that anyone needed to teach you Cheer," Cetan added, "you learned that one on your own." Cressan couldn't have looked happier.

"Now show us what you've learned, Cetan," Cressan was bouncing from foot to foot with anticipation. "And have you gotten a weapon yet? Did your dad get you one yet?"

"Yeah, actually he did," Cetan was now almost as excited as Cressan, "he says it's very similar to his first sword, except mine's smaller, which is just the right size for me."

"Well, did you learn anything new this week," Vidina asked, containing his excitement much better than the other two, "or are you still working on the Dark Attack move with my dad?"

"I'm still working on it, but I've gotten much better," Cetan raised his stick into attack position, "the key is to aim for the eyes, but that's hard to do when I can't practice on real fiends."

"It's a shame we can't fight real fiends yet," Vidina said, now a little disheartened, "cause we're as ready as we are ever going to be."

"Yeah, I mean, Vidina knows all four spells," Cetan turned to Cressan, "you, Cressan just learned to sharpen your sword, right?" Cressan nodded, "And I just got mine, so why don't just bring out weapons next time and…"

"We can't," Cressan interrupted, "besides; I already promised my dad that I wouldn't fight fiends until he said I was ready."

"But that's the thing," Cetan replied, "if we wait until they say we're ready, then we'll be waiting until were much, much older, cause they don't want us fighting fiends."

"I agree with Cressan on this one," Vidina said with a sigh, "we promised our parents we wouldn't fight real fiends until they think we are ready and we should keep our promises, but," Vidina put his hand on Cetan's shoulder, "Nothing says we can't ask them to let us fight real fiends sooner rather than later."

"Ok," Cressan agrees, "how about this, if they don't say anything by next week's dinner, then we ask them about it." And both boys nod in agreement.

Meanwhile, the adults were having their usual conversation about the children's training, "I'm very proud of Vidina," Lulu muses, "He has mastered the first level spells faster than I expected."

"Cetan is doing quite well too," Tidus said, leaning back in his chair, "he's got speed and accuracy that I didn't think were possible at his age."

Wakka then added, "Plus I think he's really starting to get dat Dark Attack move I showed him."

"Oh," Yuna exclaimed looking at the two men, "so that's what you've been doing when you say you've been going to practice with Cetan, you both have been training him."

"Hey, the boy's got a talent for it," Wakka said defending himself, "and really sharp eyes, ya, he was picking it up on his own, so I just decided to give him a few pointers. Besides with Lulu taking care of Vidina, I figured I better help out somewhere, you know."

"Well, I'm not certain how Cressan's doing," Rikku eyed Auron, who actually smiled a slight smile at the mention of his daughter's name, "but from the look on your face, Auron, I'd take it she's doing well."

Auron's grin widened a little, "Her strength increases with each session; I think she is almost ready to enter real combat."

"I was wondering when that would come up," Lulu smiled a smile of her own, "I think Vidina is ready now, however, since the children are already a team, I wanted to wait until the others were ready before sending them out to fight real fiends."

"Hm, I think fighting some real fiends would do Cetan a world of good." Tidus replied after a moment of silence, "But how would we arrange it, I don't think we should just let them go on their own yet, and where would we take them to?"

"How about down to the beach and back?" Rikku asked the group, "The fiends here on Besaid are relatively weak, plus we would be able to see what their limits are."

"And all we would have to do is follow them," Yuna added, "To be certain they don't get into any real danger."

"When could we do this, then?" Wakka asked, "Sometime this week maybe?"

"Next week," Auron stated, "We will arrive early in the morning, and the children will have all day to go to the beach and back."

"Then we can have our dinner as usual." Yuna finish, when a bell went off in the kitchen.

Lulu got up to get the meal, while Rikku said, "And not a word to the children, ok, lets make it a surprise." And everyone agreed as Yuna went to the door to call the children.

Not a word more was spoken about the trip to the beach that day, even after the children were asleep. The adults guided the children to bed or the airship, and Rikku told Brother that next week they would need the Celsius early in the morning instead of late in the afternoon. During the week the parents watched the children train even more closely, and were reaffirmed that they were defiantly ready for real combat.

The evening before the fateful trip, Auron asked Cressan a question that had been bothering him for quite awhile, "Why do you wish to be a fiend hunter?"

"Because," Cressan replied without really thinking about it, "I've been having dreams about being one ever since I can remember." She then looked at her father and was worried that she may have given the wrong answer due to the slight look of concern on his face.

"I see." was all he said in reply.

The morning of the trip, Cressan's morning exercises were interrupted by the unmistakable sound of the Celsius landing in the clearing. Cressan ran out, still in her pajamas, and saw her mother speaking with her uncle. She cautiously approached and managed to hear her mother say, "When I said early in the morning, I didn't mean the crack of dawn… Oh good morning dear," she had been noticed.

Cressan ran up to her mother and asked the first thing that popped into her head, "Is Uncle and Buddy and Shinra coming to eat breakfast with us?"

"Yes breakfast, sounds like a good idea to me," Brother said holding his stomach, "We get up really early to take you to Besaid, so we get breakfast, is fair deal to me."

Rikku sighed, now that her daughter had mentioned food to Brother there was no getting rid of him, well she could have Auron glare him away but that would only cause problems later. "Ok, gather up Buddy and Shinra, breakfast will be ready in a little while. Cressan, dear, why don't you go finish up your morning exercises then come out for breakfast, we're going to Besaid early today."

"Ok, Mom." And Cressan ran back into the house to do as she was told.

Not ten minutes later, Cressan was showered, dressed and at the table waiting for breakfast to be served along with the crew of the Celsius. Auron came into the kitchen with Desudro, sat him in his highchair, and then took his seat next to Cressan. Rikku looked up from her cooking to the full kitchen table and sighed once again, "Pancakes are almost done, so don't even think about pounding on my table Brother." Brother lowered his hands to the table.

Rikku brought out the first batch of pancakes and gave one to each person at the table; ignoring Bother's pleads for more, then went back to her griddle and started on the next batch. Cressan watched as the others ate, Brother went at it like a fiend who hadn't seen food in days, Buddy and Shinra ate like human beings, and her father ate his own while cutting Desudro's up for him. By the time Cressan had finished with her pancake, her mother was already coming out with the next batch; everyone, except Desudro, got a second one; then returned to the stove to start the third batch. Because the pancakes were huge, Cressan got up from the table after the she finished her second one and put her dishes in the sink and rinsed them free of the sticky syrup. "Thanks Mom," she said as she passed, "they were really yummy."

Just as she was about to leave for her room, Auron said, "No training today Cressan, just wait in the living room." Cressan nodded then turned to enter the living room were she sat on the couch and picked up the picture frame Shinra had given her for her birthday. She spent the next several minutes looking at the ever-changing picture; until she saw the others get up from the table and join her in the living room.

"Good breakfast," Brother stated as he sat down on the couch across from Cressan, "Rikku has improved much since becoming a mother."

"I agree," Buddy said sitting down on the opposite end of the couch from Brother, "It sure beats the breakfast that Barkeep usually makes."

"Mom's pancakes are the best, aren't they?" Cressan added to the conversation as she put down the picture frame, "That's my favorite breakfast. Dad's miso soup is a close second though."

"I'm glad you all liked them," Rikku had just entered the living room, "well, we had better get going, we're expected in Besaid."

All as one, the boys of the Celsius got up and ran to their airship, leaving Cressan alone with her mother, "Mom, why are we going to Besaid so early today?"

Rikku couldn't suppress her smile, "You'll see when we get there, now go board the Celsius, while I go help your dad with Desudro."

When the Celsius landed in Besaid, Cressan was surprised to see that both families were waiting just inside the gates. Cressan bounded down the open ramp to Cetan and Vidina, "Do you know what's going on?" she asked.

"Nope, Dad said that he would tell me when you got here." Cetan answered.

"My parents said the same thing." Vidina also replied.

"Hey," Cressan suddenly turned to her parents, who had just joined the others, "Why are we in Besaid this early, and…" her father had just pulled out her sword, "why did you bring my sword here?" although the second question came out more confused than the first.

Cetan and Vidina each turned to their own parents, who had brought out their weapons as well. Yuna then said, with a smile at the children's looks of confusion, "Because today you will fight your first real fiends."

All the parents smiled, including Auron, as the children looked at each other and shouted, "Alright!" then each of them got their weapons from their respective parents, "Where are we going?" Vidina asked.

"And when do we leave?" Cressan added.

"You will be going to the beach and back," Rikku explained, "and although we will be following you, you have to try and make it without our help. And we leave as soon as the three of you are ready."

Cressan shouldered her blade, "Well I'm ready, are you guys?"

Vidina tucked his moogle into the crook of his arm, "I'm set."

Cetan grabbed his sword and set the tip to the ground, "Me too."

"Here," Wakka gave the children a few Potions, "just in case, ya."

"Ok, now we are ready," Vidina replied, tucking the Potions away.

"Let's get this show on the road," Cressan shouted, then ran to the gates, "come on, come on, come on."

When the three were at the gates, they started walking with their parents, except a slightly pregnant Yuna who stayed behind with Desudro, not far behind. On the way up the first hill Cetan just had to ask, "How do you carry that thing, Cressan? It looks like it weighs a ton."

Cressan giggled, "It does, but I'm used to it cause I train with it everyday."

Cetan was just about to answer when three Coyote fiends appeared out of the bushes lining the road. "Looks like I'm up first," Cetan smiled as he quickly killed one of the Coyotes with a single swing then leapt back to the others as the pyreflies swarmed upward.

One of the Coyotes ran towards Vidina while the other charged Cressan. Vidina dodged his and aimed a fire spell at it, but it shook it off. Cressan tried to slice hers only to have it dodge and bite her on the arm drawing a little blood. Cetan raced over and slashed the one that bit Cressan then turned to Vidina's and quickly killed that one too. Then both boys approached Cressan who was using the hem of her shirt to wipe up the blood seeping from her wound.

"Are you ok?" Cetan asked looking at the blood on her arm.

"This? This is a nip, training with Dad hurts worse than this, I'm fine." She said having stopped the bleeding.

"Ok, but now we know," Vidina replied, "leave those kind to Cetan."

"I'll agree with that." Cressan's smile was already back on her face as they continued their walk up the hill.

A little further up the hill a Flan Azul slithered into view, Vidina shot a Thunder spell at it killing it instantly.

"Hey," Cressan exclaimed, "You could have let me take a swing at it." She pouted a little.

"Nah," Vidina responded, "those fiends are really weak against Thunder magic, so leave those to me."

"Don't worry Cressan," Cetan said putting a hand on her shoulder as they continued walking, "we know this area, and if we're lucky, we'll run into a fiend that you can attack."

"Oh ok," Cressan lit up again, "and in the mean time I can use Cheer so the fiends will hurt us less."

That's a good idea," Vidina replied, "cause we only wanna use our potions as a last resort."

The children continued up the hill, and after one more pack of Coyotes, finally made it to the prayer monument over looking the village. Cressan ran to the edge and looked out over the village. Putting her free hand over her eyes to block out the sun's glare, she commented, "It's so pretty up here."

"Yeah, it is," Cetan said as he joined her at the edge, "I've seen it lots of times and I still think it's pretty."

"Come on you two," Vidina called out, "are we going to the beach or what?"

"Coming," Cressan calls back, as she backs away from the edge getting one last look, before running to join Vidina, with Cetan right behind her.

The children continue down the path through the ruins, fighting off mostly packs of Coyotes with an occasional Flan Azul thrown in, until they come across a Purpurea fiend growing in the road. Cetan makes the first move and puts a nice deep slice in its side. Backing away Cetan shouts, "You finish it up, Cressan!"

"Okey-dokey," and she runs up and brings her sword down cleaving the Purpurea in two before it bursts into pyreflies, "That was fun; I hope we find more of those types of fiend."

Cetan looked a little wary of Cressan's blade and said, "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Oh," Cressan realized what he meant and laughed, "Don't worry, this blade is for use on fiends only, I'd never use it against anybody, let alone my friends."

"Hey man," Vidina said putting his arm on Cetan's shoulder, "have a little more faith in out partner, ok?"

"Ok." Cetan replied, and the three of them kept walking along the road towards the beach.

More Coyotes, Flan Azuls, and two Purpureas later the children were ambushed by an Iron Giant fiend, who hit Vidina hard with it's sword before turning its attention to the others. Cetan ran to Vidina and used their last Potion on him; the others had been used to combat bites from the Coyotes, the Water spell one of the Flan Azuls had managed to cast, and a Seed Cannon that had hit Cetan. Cressan attacked the Iron Giant then managed to side step its next attack. Just as Cetan had Vidina out of critical condition, an idea struck Cressan, "Guys, I'll use Power Break on it!"

"Just do it!" Cetan yelled barely managing to push himself and Vidina out of the way of the Iron Giant's next attack. Cressan made her blade glow and used Power Break on the fiend reducing its attack power and damaging it even more. Vidina then finished the fiend with a well placed Blizzard spell.

"That was intense." Cetan stated as he brushed himself off and gave a thumbs-up to the worried parents. They had been watching the children fight off fiends amazingly well; they had honestly expected the children to stop after they hit the second Purpurea, which had been the one to hit Cetan with Seed Cannon, so watching them fight off an Iron Giant was mind boggling and a little frightening, especially to the mothers.

"Yeah," Vidina agreed, "it got a little scary there when the giant got me."

"Well, now we know," Cressan responded, as the group got under way again, "that the first thing we do when we see one of those is to let me do a Power Break on it." Cetan and Vidina quickly agreed.

A little while later and the children had all but made it to the beach; they had only been attacked by Coyotes and Flan Azuls after that fight with the Iron Giant, when suddenly a Coeurl walked into their path. The parents were horrified as the children went and attacked the dangerous fiend.

"Don't attack it," Rikku cried out, as she and the other adults pulled out their weapons, "just run, let us take care of it!"

"No," Vidina called out as he let loose a Water spell, "let us try!" the Water spell hit true as Cetan managed to cut a nice gash in the Coeurl's side. This served to anger the Coeurl, who then raised its whiskers and fired a Blaster at Cetan knocking him down to one HP.

"Ahhh!" Cetan screamed as he fell to the ground barely conscious, before managing to get into a crouching fighting stance, "Watch out, that Blaster move really hurts!"

"This ought to help with that." Cressan then made her blade glow once again and hit the Coeurl with Power Break. But once again the Coeurl raised its whiskers and fired a Blaster at Cressan, which knocked her own to one HP.

Vidina managed to unleash a Thunder spell right after the Blaster hit Cressan, so while Cressan picked herself up and got into another fighting stance, the Coeurl casted a Fira spell knocking Vidina out. Cetan had just managed to put another gash in the Coeurl's side when it turned around and used a Blizzara spell on him, knocking him out as well. The Coeurl was just about to unleash yet another spell when Cressan gathered all her strength, jumped up, and impaled the Coeurl causing it to burst into pyreflies.

Leaning heavily on her sword for support, Cressan yelled, "Stop!" startling all the parents who had just begun to rush in to help, "Let us finish." Cressan then stood up strait, shouldered her blade, then leaned down to pick up Vidina's limp and burned form, and half carried half dragged him the remaining fifty feet to the water's edge. When she turned around to return for Cetan, she noticed her father putting out an arm to stop the other adults from interfering. Cetan made a mental note to thank her father later as she picked up Cetan, who was still very cold from the Blizzara spell, and carried/dragged him down to the water as well. Cressan then sat down; gently put her blade down beside her then collapsed herself next to her two unconscious friends.

The adults followed her down to the beach and looked at each other before tending to the children. "When an amazing team they make," Tidus said turning his son over so he was face up in the sand, "to take down a Coeurl in the state they were in."

"Cressan," Lulu sighed before looking at Auron, "She is most defiantly your daughter, Auron."

Auron smiled a little looking at the children, and then at Rikku who was using a Phoenix Down on Vidina, "They are all commendable."

"Yeah," Rikku continued, "they all did spectacularly well, especially for their first real fiend fighting trip."

"Thanks," Vidina said getting up after Rikku finished with him and moved on to Cetan, "we'll do even better next time."

"Next time?" Lulu asked, looking her son over for any burn spots that were missed by the Phoenix Down, "Do you want there to be a next time?"

"Definitely," Cetan replied, getting up himself as Rikku moved to Cressan, but stopped when she heard the conversation.

"Are you sure?" Tidus asked his son, "That Coeurl nearly got all of you, do you really want to go through that again?"

"It was fun, wasn't it Cetan?" Vidina responded looking at his friend.

"Totally fun, now could you heal Cressan," Cetan asked, turning to Rikku, "please?"

"Oh, right, of course," Rikku used her third Phoenix Down on Cressan, who opened her eyes and got up slowly, for fear of getting dizzy.

"Hey," Vidina called out in surprise, "How did we get to the beach, I remember passing out from that Fira spell over there." pointing at the spot where the Coeurl was.

"Yeah," Cetan agreed, "So do I."

"Oh," Cressan walked over to the two boys and put her arms around their shoulders, "I finished off the fiend, then carried, and partially dragged, the two of you to the beach. Then I sorta collapsed myself." Both boys looked at each other then at her as if she had grown a second head. "What?" she asked bringing her arms down and getting in front of them, "I thought we should at least make it half way to the goal together."

"You more than made it to the goal," Tidus said smiling at the children, "We didn't expect you to make it much past the ruins, let alone all the way to the Beach. We are all very proud of you three."

The children looked at each other smiling brightly, then Rikku asked, "Do you want to do this again, Cressan?"

"Absotivley-posilutly." Cressan answered without hesitation, then looked at the boys, "You guys said yes too, right?"

"Yup." replied Cetan.

"Indeed." answered Vidina.

"Yea," then she turned to the parents and said, "So we're doing this again next week right?"

All the parents looked at each other, then one by one they all nodded to each other, and Lulu said, "It seems like it, but don't forget that if you ever want to call it off for any reason, just tell us alright?"

"That isn't going to happen Auntie Lulu." Cetan responded, putting his hands on his hips.

"Yeah," Cressan chimed in, "this is just more training, and really fun training at that." The parents only smiled and shook their heads in defeat.

Vidina's stomach started growling, "Hey, can we start heading for home now, my stomach says it's time for lunch."

"Lunch sounds like a good idea, ya." Wakka said moving towards the way that led towards the village.

"Next time we should bring lunch to eat here at the beach," Rikku suggested, "that would be fun." The others, especially the children, agreed.

The walk back to the Besaid Village was a lot more peaceful than the way to the beach, mostly because Rikku had equipped her Charm Bangle, which repels fiends. When the group got back to the village, everyone went to Yuna and Tidus's house to eat, partially because it was closer and partially because they knew Yuna would be waiting for them there. Yuna had a plate of sandwiches made, and brought them out to her waiting friends and family. After they had polished of the sandwiches, the children excused themselves and ran outside, leaving their weapons behind in the house as they had agreed to on the way back to the village.

Once the children had made it to their usual spot they started talking about the battles they had fought. Once they had run out on that subject, the boys noticed that Cressan hadn't said much, which was unusual for her.

"Hey," Cetan said as he waved a hand in front of Cressan's blank face, "Cressan, are you in there?"

"What," she exclaimed, snapping out of her trance-like state, "oh, sorry for zoning out there, I was just thinking about something my dad asked me yesterday. The look on his face when I answered him really bugged me, and has been bugging me ever since we got back from our trip to the beach."

"What did he ask?" Vidina questioned, focusing his attention on Cressan.

"He asked me why I wanted to be a fiend hunter." Cressan replied, "And I told him it was because of some dreams I've been having for the longest time."

"Wait, wait a minute," Cetan said, very confused, "You've been having dreams too?"

"You as well?" Vidina was startled, "I thought it was a little strange that we all wanna be fiend hunters, but if we all have been having dreams about it…what kind of dreams have you been having Cressan?"

"Well," Cressan began, "my favorite is a dream where I see the four of us, Dyne is the fourth person cause he's the smallest, coming together from four different directions, then putting our hands together in the middle and giving a cheer."

"I've had that one," Cetan states, "but my favorite is of the three of us walking into the sunset, then a fourth person, I think he is Dyne too, joins us and the four of us disappear into the sun's light."

"I've had both of those," Vidina continues, "but my favorite is the one I had the night of your party Cressan; I see the four of us, all grown up, traveling together across Spira and fighting huge fiends."

"I started having that one the night of my party too." Cressan exclaimed.

"Me too." Cetan quickly added.

"I wonder what it means," Vidina said, his voice heavy with thought, "it can't be a coincidence if we all had these dreams at the same time. Something must be behind it."

"But what?" Cetan was puzzled. All three children became quiet as the tried to think f a reason why they would all have the same dream at the same time. When they couldn't come up with anything Cetan groans, "There has to be a reason for it, there just has to."

"Well," Vidina was just as frustrated, "what ever it is, we aren't going to find it sitting around here."

"And let's not tell the adults, ok." Cressan looked from Cetan to Vidina and back again, "If they react like my dad did, they might stop us from hunting fiends."

"Good idea," Cetan agreed, "because I defiantly want to go hunting fiends again."

"So it's decided then," Vidina put his hand in the middle of their group, "the dreams stay secret from the adults, at least until we know why we are having them, agreed?"

Cetan and Cressan both put their hands on top of Vidina's and said "Agreed."

(A/N: Ok not as long as my first chapter, but still long for me. And yay for me, I leave you with foreshadowing, these dreams will play a major role in the plot line of this story. I need all the inspiration I can get so please review, it inspires me.)


	3. Chapter 3: The Monster Arena

(A/N: Ok everybody here is the third chapter. I noticed that only one person is bothering to review, (thanks again Bonzai 1990) and although that one review is inspiring I'm of the opinion that if one review is good, then more reviews would be better. But anyway back to the story; the children have grown up some since the last chapter, it's been a little under four years since we last saw them so Cressan is now 10, Vidina is 12 ½, Cetan is 11, and little Dyne is 4. Well enjoy the story everyone.)

(Disclaimer: Do I have to put this in (shouts from the audience "Yes!") ok, ok. I do not own the parents or Vidina, but everyone else is my own creation.)

Chapter 3 The Monster Arena

"Guys, guys," Cressan called out as she left the ramp of the Celsius and ran to meet her friends at the gates to Besaid Village, "you'll never guess what I just found out."

"What do you just find out?" Cetan asked as he got out of his usual "waiting" pose against the gate; one foot against the gate with his hands behind his head; and walked over to Cressan and Vidina.

"Does it have to do with our training?" Vidina focused on Cressan, she was as energetic as ever, bouncing on her heels then hopping from foot to foot, "Because only something to do with training could get you this excited."

"It has everything to do with our training; did you guys' parents ever tell you about the old Monster Arena that used to be in the Calm Lands?" Cressan looked from one to the other, and watched as recognition dawned on both their faces.

"Yes," Vidina responded, "it's the place where fiends from all over Spira were brought together so the old Crusaders could train."

"And our parents helped it reopen and trained there themselves to fight Sin. What about it?" Cetan finished.

"Well I know it closed when the Eternal Calm came," Cressan began to get excited again, "but guess what," she pulled out a colorful flyer and held it so the other two could see, "it's reopened at another place in the Calm Lands and the flyer has a 'First Fight Free' coupon on it. It's the prefect place to train."

Vidina took the flyer and read it, with Cetan looking over his shoulder, grins grew on both of their faces as they read, "It is perfect," Cetan exclaimed, "all the fiends we could ever fight all in one place."

"Well," Rikku came up and put her head in the children's huddle, startling them, "what do you boys think about Cressan's great plan?"

"It's perfect," Vidina explained, "we've already gotten used to fighting the fiends here, in Kilika Woods, and on the Mi'ihen Highroad. With the Monster Arena open, we can fight fiends from everywhere in Spira with having to find them."

"Plus," Cetan added, "we could pay for it ourselves, we've already earned lots of Gil from the fiends we've fought already."

"See Mom, I told you they would agree with me," Cressan said looking at her mother, "so can we go, can we please?"

"Let me talk with the other parents, alright, then we'll see." Rikku smiled at the enthusiasm of the children, they still enjoyed fighting fiends even though it had been just under four years since their first trip. She watched as the children ran to Lulu and Wakka's home, and practically dragged their parents out to meet with her.

Rikku looked over to her husband, Auron, who had taken his place at her side, and asked, "What do you think about all this?"

"It simplifies the matter." Auron replied

"What's all this about the Monster Arena reopening?" Tidus asked as he and the other parents walked up to Rikku and Auron, "All I got out of the children is that it's reopening and they want to go there."

"I told them that if you all agreed, we could take them there to train instead of the Mi'ihen Highroad." Rikku and the other parents looked at each other and one by one they all nodded and agreed.

"Yea," Cressan yelled, as she and the boys high-fived each other, "Monster Arena, here we come!" Then the three of them dashed off towards the Celsius with the parents and Cetan's little sister, Leila, not far behind.

When the Celsius arrive at the Calm Lands all the children, including Desudro and Leila, raced down the ramp and gathered in front of the hovercraft station. The adults soon joined the children and before renting a hover, discussed where they were going to go.

"I wanna see the Lupine Races!" Desudro began.

"Me too, me too!" Leila added waving her arms in the air.

"But we're here to train at the Monster Arena," Cressan started, "Not to play in the Calm Lands."

"Yeah, we're not here to play," Cetan continued, "training is more important."

"Hey, hey now," Yuna stepped in between the quarreling children, "there is no reason why we can't do both," she turned to Rikku, "Rikku would you mind going with me to take the younger children to see the races while the rest of you go to the Monster Arena?"

"No problem at all," Rikku replied, "the races are always fun to watch."

So the group splits up with Yuna and Rikku taking Desudro and Leila to see the Lupine Races, and the rest of them renting a hover to head towards the Monster Arena. When the hover finally got there, Cressan, Vidina, and Cetan rushed to join the line of people who were also there to fight in the arena.

"Oh," Cressan said as she shifted her wait from foot to foot carefully balancing her sword on her shoulder, "I'm so excited, I can't wait to get started."

Vidina taps his fingers idly on the staff he got for his birthday a year and a half ago, "I wish it wasn't so crowded." The line inches forward slowly.

"At least we are moving," Cressan pointed out, "that means we'll get there soon." The line inches forward some more.

"But It's taking forever," Cetan whined. And, as if to answer him, the line inched forward even more."

Fifteen minutes of waiting finally got them to the admissions window; when the owner saw them he immediately said, "Why did you wait in line children? Spectators go in for free this week, just enter over there." And he pointed to another gate in the arena wall.

"But we're not spectators," Cressan replied, placing the flyer with the coupon on the counter, "we're here to fight fiends."

The owner took off his glasses and examined the three children, then said, "Are you sure, children? These are real fiends in there, and you will be expected to fight until you give up or are defeated."

"Or until we win." Cetan corrected, rotating his sword wielding shoulder.

"Or until you win," the owner's face went grim again, "but I don't know if I should let you children fight the tough fiends I keep in here."

"I have an idea," Vidina suggested, "how about this, you send out a fiend you think we can handle and each time we win, you send out a more difficult fiend until we can't handle it anymore. And for each fiend we defeat we will pay you the cost to fight it. You make some Gil and we give your spectators a show, how does that strike you?"

The owner thought for a moment, here are some children offering to pay for some fights and promising to entertain his crowd, and all he had to do was let them in. "You've got a deal kids. Welcome to the Monster Arena, and don't worry about the fiends; I raised them myself so they won't kill you even if you get knocked out."

"You are a genius Vidina," Cressan said praising her friend as they walked together into the competitor's entrance, "who cares if it costs us some Gil, we get to fight a lot of fiends."

"Boy are we gonna surprise him," Cetan was grinning almost as much as Cressan, "we're probably going to do better than those people who were ahead of us."

"Well we have been training every week for over four years," Vidina was smiling too; "I should think we would put on a decent show of strength when we fight."

When the children entered the arena, the crowd quieted down instantly; surprised that children were allowed to enter the battle area, then the first fiend came out, a Quadricorn (a beast type fiend with four horns growing out of its back). The children looked at each other, then the boys motioned for Cressan to have it and she cleaved the creature almost completely in half with a single swing, causing it to burst into pyreflies.

The owner was stunned, he had sent out his scariest low-level creature, and the children hadn't even blinked at it before the girl sliced it in two. It was obvious that the children were either extremely lucky or very skilled; the owner wanted to believe the former.

The crowd to was stunned, but only for a moment or two, before they started cheering for the children as the next fiend was released, an Iron Giant. Cressan and Cetan nodded to each other and they both struck the fiend from either side before it had the chance to attack. The fiend fell to its knees then collapsed to the ground in a cloud of pyreflies. And the crowd once again cheers as the children scan the stands looking for their parents, whom they eventually find among the crowds.

A Shantak (a really big bird type) is the next fiend to appear, Vidina is the first to move with a Thundara spell, while Cressan readies a Power Break and Cetan uses Dark Attack, blinding the fiend. After the fiend was blinded and had its attack power reduced, the children took their time whittling away at the fiend's higher than average HP and giving a good show to the audience. When the Shantak finally fell at Vidina's Blizzara spell, the kids took the opportunity to show off their new victory poses; Vidina twirled his staff from one hand to the other then planted it in the ground near his foot, Cetan slashed an X in the air in front of him and then ran his fingers across the dull edge of the sword, Cressan planted her blade a good four inches into the ground then rested her hands on the hilt and nodded to herself with a wide smile on her face. The crowd cheered and the children saw their parents cheering as well, except for Auron who merely smiled, with Lulu sending up fire spells to show her excitement.

Even the owner was now impressed at the skill the children were displaying, some of the adult teams that had been through that day didn't have half the talent that the children had shown so far and they had only just broken a sweat. "It defiantly wasn't luck," the owner deduced to himself as he released the next fiend, "I've got to invite those children back to do this again."

The children broke their poses when the roar of the crowd told them that the next fiend was entering the arena, a Takouba (a four legged fiend with a blade on each leg). They sized up their adversary and attacked; Vidina with a Watera spell, Cressan readying another Power Break, and Cetan using another Dark Attack; however the Dark Attack didn't work and when Cressan unleashed her Power Break move, the Takouba was able to counter it, attacking Cressan and poisoning her.

"Careful!" Cressan shouted to the boys, "Its attacks don't hurt much but it causes poison." She then downed an Antidote as Vidina cast a Fira spell on the fiend and Cetan tried another Dark Attack, both of which had better results than before. The blinded fiend tried to attack Vidina, who easily dodged the attack while Cressan ran up and slashed the Takouba, leaving a deep gaping wound in its side. Cetan jumped forward and attempted to slice the fiend's leg clean off, but this time it dodged and used Blade Rondo on him, causing several deep cuts and poisoning him. Vidina finished off the Takouba with another Fira spell just as it landed, while Cressan used another Antidote on Cetan. Once the fiend burst into pyreflies, the children did another victory pose amid cheers from the crowd, and then used a couple of Potions on Cetan.

"Man," Cetan sighed after chugging his third potion, "that one was a work out. It took three Potions to get me back to full health."

"I'm just grateful we have Antidotes in out inventory," Cressan said, drinking a Potion herself, "otherwise that fight would have been much harder."

"I'm almost ready to use an Ether myself," Vidina added in, "I hope the next fiend won't require much magic."

When the crowd cheered again, the children quickly readied themselves, as an Amorphous Gel floated into the arena. Cetan took the initiative and attacked the sphere-like fiend only to find his sword went right through it causing almost no damage. The fiend reacted by casting a Fira spell at the three children, but Vidina took that to mean that the fiend was weak against ice, so he cast a Blizzara spell right back at it, causing a very good amount of damage, while Cressan readied and unleashed a Magic Break on the fiend causing very little damage but reducing its magic so its spells wouldn't hurt so much next time. But rather than casting a spell, the fiend changed its body shape from a sphere to a block and proceeded to squash Vidina bringing him down to one HP.

Vidina was panting with exhaustion when he shouted, "That attack is just like a Coeurl's Blaster; Cetan, you start using Potions on me and Cressan, keep up the Magic Breaks, I'll keep casting at it." Vidina cast another Blizzara spell at the Gel while Cetan began tossing Potions at Vidina, and Cressan attacked with another Magic Break. The fiend, however, did something unexpected and used Barrier Shift, so when Vidina cast Blizzara again the spell did nothing.

"Oh great," Vidina cried out after drinking an Ether, "the thing can change its immunities."

"Just cast something and see if it works." Cetan replied, tossing another Potion at Vidina before getting squashed by the fiend himself, knocking him down to one HP.

Vidina took a guess and cast a Watera spell at the Gel, but the fiend got healed instead of hurt. The Amorphous Gel then cast a Watera spell of its own that knocked out Cetan, and injured Vidina and Cressan. Vidina then cast Thundara at the fiend injuring it while Cressan used one of their few Phoenix Downs on Cetan, who immediately started using potions on himself. Cressan abandoned using Magic Break, and started throwing Potions at Vidina as well as using them on herself. The Gel then transformed into a black again and attacked Vidina lowering him back down to one HP, but Cetan and Cressan were quick to respond and both used Potions on him. The fiend then used Barrier Shift again and Vidina's next Thundara spell did nothing yet again. Vidina tried a Fira spell and fortunately it worked, but the fiend countered yet again by casting a Blizzara spell at the children, however the damage was quickly undone by the Potions Cressan and Cetan were throwing about. Vidina used one more Fira spell on the Gel before it started melting into pyreflies and floating away. The children did their victory poses again and waited for the next fiend as the crowd let out a collective breath then resumed its cheering.

Tidus was among those that had held their breath while watching the fight, "That was one intense fight." He stated as the crowd around him started cheering, "I didn't think they had it in them."

"I'm relieved that they put so many Potions in their inventory," Wakka replied, "They wouldn't have made it without them."

"That battle exposed the flaw in their typical battle strategy," Lulu commented, drawing the attention of the three men who sat beside her, "They normally attack in full force, without the backup of a healer. This battle forced them to alter their strategy to make the two ineffective attackers change into healers."

"It's amazing they knew how to adapt so quickly," Tidus said, "almost like it is instinct for them."

"One would think it so after four years of training." Auron dryly stated with a hint of smile, he gazed back to the children who eagerly awaited their next fiend.

The children's gaze turned to the next fiend that had appeared in the arena, a Behemoth. The children exchanged glances and began attacking the massive fiend. Ducking under the fiend's massive paw swipe, Cressan made a clean slice in the Behemoth's belly, causing it to roar in pain and unleash a Thundara spell on her. Vidina immediately cast a Watera spell on the Behemoth while Cetan used Silence Attack to try and stop the fiends spell casting, but it failed and the Behemoth managed to hit him with its paw, knocking him back several feet. Cetan recovered and, nodding at Cressan, the two of them simultaneously attacked, Cetan slashed the length of the Behemoth's side and Cressan nearly cleaving the creature's tail off. Again the Behemoth roars in pain as Vidina finishes it of with a Fira spell. As the pyreflies float away, the children once again did their victory poses, then Cressan and Cetan each drank a couple of Potions in preparation for the next fiend.

By now, Yuna, Rikku, and the younger children had joined the others in the stands; Yuna had been terrified when Cetan had been hit by the Behemoth and started breathing normally again only when the fiend fell. "Have all their fights been this tough?" Yuna asked her husband.

"Naw," Tidus replied, "the fight with the Amorphous Gel was much more intense, they nearly lost that one."

"They went against an Amorphous Gel without a healer and survived?" Rikku was half astounded and half impressed, "How'd they do it?"

"Cressan and Cetan began tossing Potions about," Lulu added in, "and with Vidina's casting, it was just a matter of time before the fiend fell."

"What else has big sister fought?" Desudro asked eagerly.

"Yeah, what else?" Leila mirrored his enthusiasm.

"Well," Tidus said picking up his daughter and placing her on his lap, "they started with…"

"Oh look," Rikku shouted interrupting Tidus, "the next fiend is coming out."

The gate opened to reveal a giant Stalwart (a massive fiend with two huge side arms and a cannon in its chest), and the children leapt into action once again. Cressan used Power Break, Vidina used Fira, and Cetan used Dark Attack, however only Cressan's move was effective, with the Fira spell doing little damage and the Dark Attack bouncing off the fiend's thick armor. The fiend immediately moved one of its massive arms and slammed it down on Cressan knocking her out instantly. Vidina let loose another Fira spell while Cetan used a Phoenix Down on Cressan. Cressan downed one of the group's precious Hi-potions and used Power Break again just as the Stalwart slammed its massive arm down on Cetan this time, knocking him out. Cressan continued with another Power Break while Vidina revived Cetan with yet another of the group's dwindling supply of Phoenix Downs. Cetan drank a Hi-potion himself and tried to attack again with the same effect as before. Vidina cast a Thundara spell this time and the fiend responded by leaping up and slamming it's whole body down on him, knocking him out. Cressan and Cetan exchanged a quick glance and a nod then Cetan used the team's last Phoenix Down on Vidina, who watched as Cressan used yet another Power Break on the Stalwart. Vidina cast a Blizzara spell at the fiend as it slammed its massive arm down on Cressan, knocking her out once again. Cetan and Vidina continued their assault as the fiend turned on them and knocked out Vidina with another slam of its giant arm. Cringing at what he knew was coming, Cetan made one last attack before the fiend jumped up and slammed itself down on him, knocking him out and ending the battle.

The parents had just made it out of the stands and into the arena, when the owner finished putting the fiend back to where ever it was it came from; both the parents and the owner reached the unconscious children at the same time.

"Oh Lady Yuna, I didn't expect to see you here," the owner exclaimed when he noticed who was also tending to the children, "are these children yours?"

"Only one of them," Yuna said as she cast a Life spell on Cetan, "but I'm very proud of all three of them."

"I was not aware that you and your guardians where the parents of these children," the owner noticed Auron's towering form and reluctantly looked up to meet his eyes, but they were hidden by shades, "had I known, I would not have sent out such dangerous fiends."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Rikku said from behind the owner, startling him, "I'm sure they didn't want any special treatment, they never have in the past."

"Ugg," Cetan groaned as he got up from the ground, "that last fight was annoying."

"It always is when you lose," Tidus smiled at his son while Yuna started casting another Life spell on Cressan, "I felt the same way when ever we lost in the first Monster Arena."

"But don't feel bad, ya," Wakka added, "you three did really good for how young you are, why you're far better than we was at your age."

"Do you really mean that Uncle Wakka?" Cetan had thrown off his disappointment by now.

"Of course, ya," Wakka ruffled Cetan's hair, "I wouldn't lie to you."

Cressan had just opened her eyes as Yuna finished with the spell, "Oh poopie, we lost," she picked herself up and looked around, "I was hoping you guys could pull off a miracle."

"Nope," Cetan responded, still happy with the praise he had received, "no miracles today."

"Well' at least we made it through six fights," Cressan too had gotten out of her upset mood, "that's gotta count of something."

"Wait," Rikku was stunned when she heard her daughter's statement, "you three fought six other fiends before fighting that last one?"

"Yup." Cressan smiled at her mother's astonishment.

"I wouldn't count the first two though," Cetan added in, "the first one was a Quadricorn, which Cressan beat with one swing."

"And the second fight was against an Iron Giant," Cressan continued, "two blows and it was finished."

"And the third fight was easy too," Vidina had just woken up as well, and was eager to join in the conversation, "once the Shantak was blinded by Cetan's Dark Attack it was just a matter of attacking until it fell."

"Oh, I just remembered," Cressan shouted as everybody got up and started heading for the exit, "how much do we owe you sir?" Cressan looked at the owner of the arena as her hands went to her Gil pouch.

"What do you mean," Lulu asked confused, "I thought you three had a coupon on that flyer?"

"Well Mom," Vidina explained, "the owner here didn't believe we could fight, so I sorta struck a deal with him that we would fight one fiend after another until we couldn't anymore and we would pay the normal price for each one we defeated."

"Oh that," the owner looked embarrassed, "well, I'll have to go back to my desk to calculate the price." He then made his way to his little office near the competitor's entrance; he came out after a couple of minutes with a total, "The total for the six fiends you fought is 2,459 gil (about 25 dollars)."

"That's not bad." Cetan remarked as Cressan handed the Gil to the owner.

"How did you come up with that amount?" Tidus asked.

"I calculate the HP of the fiend," the owner explained as he accepted the Gil, "then I charge one half that amount. Thank you young lady," he said to Cressan as she put away her Gil pouch, "will I see you and your friends here again?"

"Definitely," Cressan exclaimed, then she turned to Vidina and Cetan, "when should we come back, in a couple of weeks?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Vidina agreed, "I mean we don't want our training to only be this, so a couple of weeks sounds good."

"Makes sense to me," Cetan replied as the group started walking back toward the hover station, "we don't want to forget that the arena costs Gil while our normal routine is free."

"My thoughts exactly." Vidina concluded.

The massive group made their way to the hover station, then eventually back to the Celsius, which took off for Besaid for the dinner they were so accustomed to. On the way the children finished retelling the others about their fights in the arena then got showered and redressed for dinner.

Two days later, the Celsius once again picked up the families in Besaid then Rikku and her family from the Moonflow, but this time the Celsius flew to Bevelle to meet up with Paine, Baralai and little Dyne for their monthly meeting about the state of Spira while the children play together. Desudro and Leila prefer to play with Dyne's massive toy collection in the playroom while Vidina, Cetan, Cressan, and Dyne play in his room.

"And then it changed its shape into a block and slammed itself down on Vidina." Cressan was talking very animatedly to the boys sitting in a circle with her, "Wham!" she punched her hand as she said it. "Then he took charge and told Cetan to start throwing Potions while I used Magic Break on it."

"I figured," Vidina explained to Dyne, who was sitting in rapt attention, "that with Cressan lowering its magic and Cetan acting as a healer, we could beat it with my spells."

"But then the Gel shimmered," Cressan shook her hands to illustrate, "and used Barrier Shift, so when Vidina cast Blizzara again nothing happened to it."

"So what did you do?" Dyne looked eagerly between the three others, "Did you find out how to beat it?"

"I told him to just cast something," Cetan said, drawing attention to himself, "well, if Blizzara didn't work then something else might."

"And right after you said that," Vidina continues, "The Gel smashes you as well."

"Then you cast a Watera spell and healed it by accident," Cressan was going back to her explanation, "While it cast a Watera spell back at us and knocked out Cetan. I stopped using Magic Break and used one of our Phoenix Downs to revive Cetan while Vidina used a Thundara spell on it." Cressan was once again the center of attention, "Once Cetan was back up, I started using Potions as well. Then the fiend squashed Vidina again," her palm was red by now with the number of times she had slammed her fist into it, "but we were ready, Cetan and I used a few Potions on him while the Gel shimmered again and Barrier Shifted again so Vidina's next Thundara spell did nothing."

"Oh no!" Dyne was almost shaking with excitement, "What did you do next?"

"I guessed and cast a Fira spell," Vidina was now almost as enthusiastically acting out his spell as Cressan had been, "and it worked, burning the fiend."

Cressan was bouncing up and down, then continued talking when Vidina left off, "And then it cast Blizzara at us, but our Potions were quick to undo the damage, then Vidina let loose another Fira and the Gel burst into a million pyreflies and melted into the ground. We then did our victory poses," Cressan did her victory pose with a make-believe weapon and the boys quickly followed in suit, "and the crowd went wild, cheering and screaming."

"Oh that is so cool," Dyne exclaimed leaning back and looking up at his friends as they sat back down in their little circle, "I wish I could have been there, I coulda helped."

"How?" Cetan asked with very little skepticism, he and the others already knew what Dyne could do.

"I could have healed you, silly." Dyne smiled, then turned to Cressan, "Watch," he took the hand that she had punched several times and focused intently on it, "Cure!"

"Wow Dyne," Cressan watched as her hand sparkled and the redness faded away, "you've gotten good, what else can you do?"

"Well," Dyne looked a little sheepish, "this also works but not as well," Dyne put his hands together and chanted, "Boo-boo's go bye-bye, boo-boo's go bye-bye, boo-boo's go bye-bye," and all for of the children started to glow slightly then the glow stopped and the all felt slightly energized, "how'd I do?"

The three others all looked at each other and smiles passed between them, "I'd say," Cressan was giddy with excitement, "it's time to tell the adults how good you are, little white mage."

"What do you mean," Dyne showed more than a little worry, "you promised that you wouldn't tell my mom and dad."

"We didn't want to tell the adults until you were good enough to join our team," Vidina said, putting his hand on Dyne's shoulder, "and now you are."

"But how did you know I would be a white mage?" Dyne's worry was mostly gone, replaced by confusion.

"I had a vision of it the day you were born, Dyne," Cressan had Dyne's full attention, "I saw a really powerful white mage the instant I saw you that day, and when I told the others about it they agreed with me."

"We also agreed not to tell the adults about you," Cetan added, "until you became that white mage."

"And now you have," Cressan looked proud and eager, "so lets go tell them." She picked herself up and then ran to the door as Vidina and Cetan followed suit, but Dyne merely got to his feet. "What's wrong Dyne?" Cressan asked from the doorway.

"I don't know if my parents will like the fact that I'm a white mage," Dyne looked down at his feet, "both of them are warriors."

"Come on Dyne," Vidina said as he walked over and placed an arm on Dyne's shoulders, "how bad could it be, you are what you are, and no one can change that."

"Oh, ok. But don't say I didn't warn you." Dyne replied as the four friends walked out of the room.

"And then Leblanc asks me how much longer the meeting will last." Baralai stated with an undertone of distaste.

"I wonder why Nooj keeps bringing Leblanc to those meetings?" Yuna asked to no one in particular.

"Yeah," Rikku adds in, "does she ever contribute anything?"

"No," Paine responds, "She just hangs on Nooj and complains a lot, giving me a headache." She pinched the bridge of her nose, "I still have one."

"Well why don't yo…" Rikku began, but was cut off by the sound of a small stampede in the hallway, then a bang as the doors to the room burst open revealing four of their children.

"Dyne," Baralai said getting up from his chair, "how many times have I told you, 'No running in the halls'?"

Dyne looked down, but it was Cressan who spoke up first, "Guess what, guess what, guess what."

"Not now dear," Yuna gently started, "Auntie Paine has a headache, so we'll…" but she was cut off by Vidina.

"That's perfect," Vidina exclaimed, "Dyne, why don't you show your mom what you can do?"

"Ok," Dyne said hesitantly, then approached his mother, "Mom, please hold still," Dyne then raised his hand up to his mother's head and said, "Cure." Sparkles fell on Paine's head then disappeared, Dyne lowered his hand and silence fell over the room.

Paine's eyes widened and she broke the silence with, "My headache is gone, Dyne what did you do?"

Dyne brought his hands behind his back and looked embarrassed when Wakka suddenly spoke, "I think he just used Cure on your headache, ya."

Yuna's eyes were wider than Paine's, she was an accomplished white mage and healing a headache was a fairly difficult thing to do, yet she had just witnessed this four year old do it easily. She knelt down to Dyne's eye level, "How did you do that Dyne?"

Rather than answer his aunt, however, Dyne looked at his friends and said, "I told you this would happen; the adults don't like my magic."

"It's not that we don't like it Dyne," Rikku said getting down on her knees next to him as well, "We just want to know how you did it."

Dyne looked at his two aunts then replied, "I just sorta sensed where the owwie was and healed it. So you aren't mad at me?"

Yuna shook her head, "Far from it."

"See Dyne," Cressan was smiling, as were the others, "I told you they wouldn't be upset. Now you can join our team."

"Absolutely not," Paine and Baralai said in unison, then Baralai continued, "I heard what you children do, fighting fiends at your age, I will not have my only son be put in such danger."

"But he wouldn't be fighting fiends," Vidina spoke up, drawing all eyes to himself, "he would be healing us while we fight fiends."

"That's still too dangerous," Paine insisted.

"What if mom trains him first," Cetan asked eagerly, "my mom is the best white mage in the world, if she trains Dyne then there is less danger right?"

Yuna blushed a little at her son's praise, then said to the couple, "It is a very rare ability to be able to sense pain with out a Scan spell, plus being able to successfully cast a Cure spell at his age; Dyne is a prodigy, and I would be delighted to teach him."

Paine and Baralai looked at each other, then at a hopeful looking Dyne. The pair exchanged glances then Baralai spoke to Yuna, "You may teach him, but I still don't want him fighting fiends."

"I understand Baralai." Yuna smiled looking at her new student then back to his parents, "How about if I come by here once a week when the children are training themselves, and teach him then?"

"That will do." Paine said curtly, then turned to the children, "Now why don't you all go back to playing, we adults still have some things to discuss." The children turned to leave then Paine spoke one more, "And Dyne," Dyne looked at his mother curiously, "thank you for healing my headache." Dyne smiled brightly and left with the other children, closing the door behind them.

The children went back to Dyne's room and on the way, Cressan turned around, put her hands behind her head, and started walking backwards looking at her friends, and said, "Well that's one step closer to becoming a full team." The others all agreed.

"Ok Dyne," Yuna called out, "I want you to use Esuna on me while running in that direction; I will be running the other way." Yuna pointed across the garden behind the mansion. Dyne took off running and Yuna started running in the opposite direction.

"Esuna!" Dyne shouted and the spell hit true, sparkles surrounded Yuna then went into her healing her of any existing status effect that might have been.

Paine and Baralai watched the training from one of the second story windows. It had been just under two months since Yuna had started her weekly training sessions with Dyne, and even they could see that he was making amazing progress with his white magic.

"That's enough for today Dyne," Yuna said having approached Dyne after that last exercise, "you're doing great."

"Lady Yuna," Dyne asked eagerly, "can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure Dyne, what is it?" Yuna and Dyne were both headed towards the back door of the mansion.

"Can you make my mom and dad let me go training with the others?" Dyne asked quickly, "I know I can help them now, and if I'm with them we'll all be safe."

"Did the others tell you to ask me that?" Yuna looked skeptical.

"No, I wanna join their team as much as they want me too." Dyne was pleading with his eyes and voice, "It's what I really wanna do."

"Ok, Dyne, I'll ask them, put I can't promise anything."

"What is it you wanted to discuss Yuna?" Baralai asked after he sent Dyne to the washroom to clean up.

"Both Dyne and the other children have been pestering me for Dyne to join their team, and I believe he is ready." Yuna saw both Baralai and Paine get worried so she continued, "Of course, Dyne isn't at the same level as the others, but I know that the children wouldn't mind scaling back their outings to suit Dyne until he catches up, plus he's gone about as far as he can go in his training with me, the rest has to be learned from experience."

Baralai and Paine looked at each other; both of them respected Yuna deeply and valued her opinion, so if she said Dyne had gone as far as he could go outside of battle then there was little to dispute; Paine asked, "How would you scale back the training to suit Dyne?"

"The other children started in Besaid on a trip to the beach and back," Yuna explained, "Paine, you know the fiends there are weak so we would do the exact same thing with Dyne as we did with the others, following them so they don't get too hurt, Dyne should be fine with that."

"Fine," Paine said with a sigh, "But promise me that you won't let him out of your sight on these trips."

Yuna smiled, "That I can promise."

Silently the door to the washroom closed, and Dyne let out a whispered, "Yessss."

(A/N: oh I love Dyne he is so cute, he is my second favorite of the children, but it is a close race with Cressan. Well this is officially my longest chapter yet, at 21 pages, and hopefully I can keep up the length. I am proud of the action scenes in this chapter, may they be hints of what is to come. Thank you for reading this far and I promise the meat of the story is just around the corner, so take the time now to get yourself some popcorn and a soda and beat that review button senseless, ok.)


	4. Chapter 4: The Next Step

(A/N: I apologize for the long wait between chapters, but this is an important chapter that I wanted to get just right before posting. We are finally getting into the meat of the story and I thank you all for hanging in there and bearing with me until the children grew up; Vidina is now 17, Cetan is 15 ½, Cressan is 14, and Dyne is 8. And once again thank you Bonzai 1990 for your review and suggestion, I worked in the siblings as best I could but this story is really about the four first born children and you'll see why.)

(Disclaimer: Once again I only own the children (save Vidina) and the plot so read on and know that I don't want to be sued for well anything.)

Chapter 4 The Next Step

"Is everybody ready for this?" Vidina shouted to the team as the next fiend made it's way into the arena, a Monolith (a giant creature half fossilized in solid rock). "Yes," "Yup," and "You betcha," were his responses but he could hardly hear them over the roar of the crowd. Vidina was the unofficial leader of their group because he was the oldest, but everybody worked together when it came to fighting.

They all spread out with Dyne sticking fairly close to Cressan. He raised his hand around his eye and shouted "Scan!" then called out to the others, "It's weak against Ice and Holy, has a high defense and agility, but it can't evade, plus it's vulnerable to Power Break and Delay. Be careful it's breath can petrify." Dyne then cast his usual Hastega, and four rounds of Protect, focusing his power through the White Tome accessory he carried instead of a weapon. Meanwhile, the others were making good use of Dyne's report; Cressan broke away from Dyne and used Power Break, Vidina had already Doublecast Blizzaga, and Cetan executed a Delay Attack effectively stopping the fiend from attacking the, now stationary, Dyne. Vidina let loose one more Blizzaga, causing the fiend to collapse backward and dissipate into a cloud of pyreflies.

"I love the sound of the crowd," Cressan said after they got out of their victory poses; Dyne's was fairly simple, he dropped to his knees, placed his hands together and bowed his head in prayer.

"You would too," Cetan said lightly shoving her, and the four of them laughed. They had been a complete team now for just over four years, and they loved every minute of it. Even their parents had to admit that the four of them worked perfectly together, and had all but mastered their chosen courses in that time. Now the children were just looking for challenges, and occasionally found them in the Monster Arena, where they were regulars. In fact, two year ago, the Monster Arena had to add on a newest of spectator seats just to hold all the people who came to watch them weekly.

The children were alerted to the next fiend when the crowd picked up again, this time a Great Malboro (a giant mouth covered in tentacles) crawled into the arena. The children once again spread out with Dyne sticking close to Cressan. Dyne cast Scan again and shouted his report, "It's immune to practically everything, the Break attacks will work though, and it's breath is something nasty, it can cause a whole host of status effects so avoid it if you can!" then Dyne cast his Hastega, and four rounds of Protect, while the others took his advice. Vidina cast a Flare spell, Cressan used Power Break, and then she turned toward Cetan as he yelled "Powerdive" using his overdrive move. Cetan ran towards Cressan, leaped up into the air, jumped off the flat of her raised blade, rose high above the Malboro, then came down next to it dragging his sword along the height of it's body leaving a deadly wound. The fiend writhed for a moment then collapsed and turned into the familiar cloud of pyreflies.

The children did their victory poses again as the crowd's volume level rose as well. But the children were getting bored; so far today they had fought a Tonberry (a little creature that does massive damage with a knife), and Earth Worm (a giant worm with a tri-fold mouth and a penchant for swallowing its opponents), a Monolith, and a Great Malboro, but they had broken no more than a sweat after all those fights. Only the Earth Worm had gotten an attack in, but Vidina had dodged it easily.

The gates to the fiend's entrance opened, raising the level of the crowd once again, but instead of a fiend, the owner of the arena came out and motioned for the children to come talk to him.

"I've got something special for you kids today." The owner said, adjusting his glasses.

"Well, what is it?" Cressan asked impatiently, as calm as she was during battle that's how eager she became out of it.

"A special fiend, one that I've been raising specifically for you four." The owner seemed quite pleased with himself, "Do you want to take it on?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Vidina responded with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face.

"I just had to be sure." And the owner walked back toward the fiend's entrance and closed the gates. The children walked back to the center of the arena to wait for the special fiend.

They didn't have to wait long, for within two minutes the voices of the audience reached a new peak when the gates opened revealing Ultima Weapon, a fiend of monstrous size. The children took off like shots from a gun each one getting into a good position while waiting for Dyne's report. "Scan!" Dyne shouted putting his hand back up to his eye, "Ok we are officially in for it now, this thing is immune to everything, has no elemental weaknesses, and, from what I can tell, has an array of status causing moves." Dyne then cast his Hastega and four Protect spells, then, moving as far away from the group and fiend as he dared, waited to cast healing spells on the others.

Vidina had stopped behind Ultima Weapon and was prepping for a Doublecast of the Ultima spell, the most powerful spell in his arsenal. Cetan was moving so fast he was a blur delivering Quick Hit after Quick Hit barely making a dent in the fiend's HP with each strike, backing off just in time to avoid getting swept up in Vidina's Ultima spells. Cressan too just barely avoided getting hit by the spells; she was causing fewer hits to the creature but doing more damage per attack, she filled in the time during the spell by using Cheer to boost the Attack and Defense of the party.

The fiend must have decided to play it safe after those spells, because it used Barrier on itself, making its body shine and rendering both Cetan and Cressan's attacks useless. "Dyne," Cressan shouted, "we need a Dispel, quick!"

"Way ahead of ya," Dyne shouted back, "Dispel!" and the shiny coating cracked and fell off, disappearing into nothing before it hit the ground.

Chugging a Turbo Ether, Vidina started Doublecasting Ultima again, while Cressan and Cetan each continued their assault on the fiend, doing even more damage than before thanks to Cressan's Cheers. Then, just before the Ultima spells were to be unleashed, Ultima Weapon unfurled the two whips it had for wings and unleashed a devastating attack that injured, blinded, and silenced the whole team. Dyne could still cast thanks to the White Cape he wore, and Cetan's Silver Glasses prevented from getting blinded, but Cressan and Vidina were rendered practically helpless. Dyne quickly cast Curaga on the entire team then Esuna on both Cressan and Vidina, while Cetan kept up the constant stream of Quick Hits.

Once cured of the blindness, Cressan was in Overdrive, but she decided to save it for when Vidina or Dyne hit Overdrive as well. It wasn't much of a wait because with Vidina's next Doublcast of Ultima; the previous set had been wasted thanks to the silence effect; he went into Overdrive. A nod between the four of them was the signal to start one of their best combo moves. Vidina pointed his staff at Ultima Weapon, widened his stance a bit, and shouted, "Omega State!" A black light shown down on the fiend and it seemed as if all its colors were backward as its stats all fell to zero.

That was Cressan's cue, "Shimmering Blade!" she cried out as she swung her katana in a beautifully controlled manner, each swing cutting the fiend like a hot knife through butter. Cetan took the opportunity as well, performing another set of Quick Hits, and his blade too, sailed right through the fiend's hide as if it was barely there. Even Dyne got in an attack, using a Holy spell right as the debilitating black light hitting Ultima Weapon began to vanish and Vidina's stance faltered.

Cressan saw the fiend turn on Vidina and rushed over, performing Sentinel so she could protect him while he recovered from using his Omega State with a few Ethers. Dyne also knew what to do and began casting Curaga on Cressan just as she blocked an attack from Ultima Weapon. Then Cetan landed another Quick Hit, and, though it did little damage to the fiend, it was just enough to defeat the creature. It collapsed and exploded into a million pyreflies. The children ran together and did their victory poses once again amid ear splitting cheers and whistles from the crowd.

The owner once again emerged from the fiend's entrance, "So, what did you think of my special fiend? Challenging, right?"

"Most defiantly." Dyne stated, drinking an Ether.

"But fun," Cressan added eagerly, "that one was a lot of fun."

"It wasn't hard to beat it," Vidina calmly pointed out, "once I used Omega State."

"That move of yours," the owner sighed, "has made mincemeat out of many of my fiends, maybe I should ban it?"

"You wouldn't though," Cetan said as he stretched, "because you would lose a lot of your spectators."

"Yeah," Cressan giggled, "we've been told by many that they come to watch us just to see the fancy stuff."

"Oh well," the owner was smiling too, "I have more of that fiend, so just tell me when you want to fight it again."

Vidina looked over his shoulder to see their parents and siblings standing at the competitor's entrance waiting for them. He turned back to the owner, "probably next week, besides it's time for us to head back." And the children all started to head towards their families.

"You did awesome," Tidus exclaimed when they finally made it to the entrance, "I can't believe you guys actually pulled it off."

"Ya," Wakka added, "I was really scared for a minute there, but then yo…" but was cut off by Rikku.

"That was amazing, the way you pulled off that combo with the Omega State and Shimmering Blade." Rikku couldn't have been happier if she had beaten the fiend herself.

"Big brother is the best," Leila squeezed through the adults and hugged her brother, "You were the one who beat that thing, yes you did."

"Aww thanks sis," Cetan said putting a hand behind his head, "But I didn't do it alone, iy was all four of us, we did it together."

"You're darn right it was," Vidina smiled at Cetan, "None of us could have beaten that thing alone."

"But together," Cressan practically bounced on Cetan, Dyne, and Vidina, "we are invincible!" And the entire group laughed, even Auron let out a chuckle, before turning to go to the nearby hover station.

But something caught the four children's attention, and they turned around to see a small boy, no older than Dyne, in a purple hood surrounded by pyreflies near the base of a nearby cliff. Although the children could swear they had never seen the boy before, there was something about him that just seemed familiar. The four of them started walking towards the boy amid questions from their families, most of which died down when they saw who the children were walking towards.

"The children approached the boy, and Cressan couldn't help but ask, "Do I know you?"

"In a sense, yes," the boy responded smiling, looking at them, "but we've never actually met."

"Bahamut," Yuna stepped forward, her voice filled with mysticism and reverence, "why are you here, I thought you and the others were resting on the Farplane?"

"We are, and we are not," Bahamut replied, his smile had dimmed considerably since Yuna's mention of the Farplane, "trouble has been brewing there ever since you sent Yu Yevon."

"What can I do?" Yuna asked with urgency, the thought of trouble brought up feelings of dread in her, would she have to save the world yet again?"

"There is nothing you can do, Lady Yuna," Bahamut said shaking his head, "you have already done your part in saving this world."

"Well then," Yuna was dumbfounded, "why are you here?"

"We are here, because it is time for the Blessed Ones to know their purpose and take the next step in their journey."

"Blessed Ones," Rikku asked, unable to contain herself anymore, "just who is a Blessed One?"

Bahamut's smile returned, "The Blessed Ones are the ones we have been guiding since birth, those who have the potential to stop Yu Yevon's last attack, the first born children of our saviors." Bahamut looked at the four children, "Surely you must have known, somewhere deep inside you, that you were meant for something greater."

"It was you," Vidina said, all the pieces were falling into place in the children's minds, "the reason we are fiend hunters, the vision that Cressan had of Dyne, the dreams we've all been having, we're the Blesses Ones."

"Dreams, visions, what are you children talking about?" Lulu asked, voice gently demanding an explanation.

"We've been having dreams," Dyne began, "ever since before we can remember, of being fiend hunters, traveling together across Spira, fighting huge fiends…"

Cetan continued, "taking a journey, the four of us together, guided by a light that none of us could explain."

"A vision of Dyne," Cressan put her hand on Dyne's shoulder, "given to me the day he was born, telling us that he would complete the team."

"We promised each other that we wouldn't tell anyone," Vidina explained, "until we knew why we were having these dreams."

"Those dreams," Bahamut drew the attention back to himself, "were out way of lighting your path, gently guiding you to this place, here and now, so that you may receive the gifts we have prepared for you." Bahamut brought his hands to his chest then slowly brought them out revealing four tiny floating lights that seemed to pulse with each child's heart, slow, steady, and distinct. "Four of us have decided to accompany you on your journey, in the forms of four mighty weapons. But be warned, from the moment you touch our weapons there is no going back, do you accept the task we have lain out for you?"

"But you've yet to describe their task." Auron spoke before any of the children had the chance to agree or disagree.

"Of course," Bahamut said, addressing Auron yet speaking to the group as a whole, "our Blessed Ones must defeat the fiends that Yu Yevon has created and sent back along the stream of time. His only wish is to leave the Farplane so that he may summon Again, and to accomplish that he has sent these fiends as assassins to destroy the ones who defeated him, the High Summoners. If even one of these fiends completes its task, Sin will return in a form that no one, not even our Blessed ones has a hope of defeating." Bahamut turned back to the children, "Do you accept the task we have lain out for you?"

Cressan nodded, "Yes."

Vidina nodded, "Yes."

Dyne nodded, "Yes."

Cetan nodded, "Yes."

"Then we present to you these weapons." Bahamut moved one of the hovering lights in front of Cetan, "For Cetan, first born child of Lady Yuna and Sir Tidus, we present to you, Valefor's Feather." The light turned into a bright red longsword with Valefor's wings at the hilt. Cetan grabbed the floating sword; it felt so light in his hand that it was practically not there. Bahamut moved the second light towards Cressan, "For Cressan, first born child of Lady Rikku and Sir Auron, we present to you, Yojimbo's Zanmato." The light turned into a beautiful katana with an intricately detailed hilt. When Cressan grasped the hilt she could instantly tell that this was the same sword used by the Aeon himself. Bahamut moved the third light in front of Vidina, "For Vidina, first born child of Lady Lulu and Sir Wakka, we present to you, Anima's Staff." The light turned into a staff that caused most of the adults to gasp, it was an almost exact copy of their old enemy, Seymour's, staff except this one had a different gem in the middle with a familiar summoning seal engraved on it. When Vidina reached for the staff, he could feel powerful black magic coursing through him. Bahamut moved the last light in front of Dyne, "For Dyne, first born child of Lady Paine and Praetor Baralai, we present to you, The Magus Orb." The light turned into a glass ball with an ever-changing flower inside. When Dyne picked up the orb, it felt as if he had a sudden infusion of magic knowledge shot into his body. And each child felt as if they had just regained a piece of themselves that they had lost long ago.

"And with that, the deal is done." Bahamut looked slightly fatigued, but only slightly; he looked at the children, "Keep these weapons close, they will enable you to not only travel back along the stream of time, but to fight the fiends you will find there."

"Wait, what about the Guardians," Paine asked, "each High Summoner had Guardians to protect them. Won't they be able to handle the fiends?"

"No," Bahamut simply stated, "the Time Fiends are in a state of time flux, able to attack yet unable to be attacked, by any normal means. Our weapons, however are also in this time flux state, allowing the Blessed Ones to attack the Time Fiends."

"Hey," Desudro shouted, "if they are going back in time, won't that, like, change the past." All eyes were on him now, "What if they change the past, so that we are, like, never born, or something."

"If our Blessed Ones succeed in their mission," Bahamut said, looking at Desudro, "everything will be as it was, save a few extra memories that they will have created."

"And if they don't?" Auron spoke once again; to those who knew him, the concern he spoke with was almost frightening.

"Then Sin will return, and little else will matter." Bahamut's remark had a severe sobering effect on the group. After a long moment of silence, Bahamut turned and pointed to the top of the cliff that lead to the long forgotten Remiem Temple, "Meet us there at sundown tomorrow, and we will teach you how to travel along the time stream, you have until then to prepare for your journey." Bahamut turned back to the group, took a step backwards and said, "Until then." then disappeared.

The four children looked at each other, a determined look spread among them; they turned and started walking towards the hover station, Vidina pausing only for a moment to say to the rest of the group, "Are you coming?"

The trip home was relatively quiet, with the four children, each showering and redressing then asking for some time alone. The four went up to the deck and just sat there looking at each other and their weapons until Cetan asked, "Can we do it?"

"We have to," Dyne answered, "if we don't Sin will return."

After a little more silence, Cressan shot up and announced, "Of course we can, remember what Vidina and I said earlier, he said 'None of us could have beaten that thing alone.' Then I said, 'But together, we are invincible!' well that still stands." She went to each of the boys and pulled them into a standing position, "We were chosen for this because we have a chance, well I say we've got more than a chance, and as long as we stick together we will win!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious, as the others were now sporting smiles almost as bright as hers. Vidina put his hand out in the center of their little circle and the hands of the others quickly topped it, "Here's to stopping the Time Fiends and saving Spira."

"To saving more than Spira," Cressan corrected, "to saving all of the time stream." The others all quickly agreed, and gave their cheer, then returned to the Cabin just as Bevelle came into sight."

Dyne and his parents were dropped off first, followed by Cressan and her family, then Cetan and Vidina's families in Besaid. The crew of the Celsius had been told that they were needed again the next day, and each child went about getting ready for their journey.

Dyne, always one who went to bed early, got up from the first light of the sun peaking through his window; he was still energized from the pep talk that Cressan had given the day before and decided to prepare his traveling kit before breakfast. Just as he was about to finish, his mother opened the door to his room, "It's time for breakfast Dyne, why aren't you ready?"

"I am getting ready, see I've packed all the Potions and Ethers, and I'm in the middle of…"

"No, I meant why aren't you ready for Breakfast. You can pack later, so please get ready or the cook will leave." Paine then turned from the room closing the door behind her.

Dyne sighed, then got up and headed towards his bathroom. He showered quickly, and then went to his closet to pick out his clothes. He chose an outfit that he thought suited him best; light gray, almost white, robes with shimmering red trim that brought out the crimson eyes he had inherited from his mother; white pants that no one would ever see since his robes covered him down to his shins; and his favorite light blue-gray boots. He competed his outfit with his usual White Cape accessory, and chose several necklaces one of which was a Star Pendant accessory that his mother had given him before his first trip to the Monster Arena. He took one last look in the mirror as he brushed his grayish-white hair into it's normal style, down just below the ears framing his slightly tanned face, "Perfect image for a white mage." He told himself. He then left his room and headed down to the kitchen.

"How many eggs do you want Dyne?" Baralai asked as he watched his son take his place beside him at the breakfast counter.

"Two please." Dyne watched as the cook prepared his eggs in his favorite style, sunny side up with the yolk still runny, then hand the plate of eggs, bacon, and toast to him, along with a glass of orange juice.

The cook then took his leave, leaving the family eating in a comfortable silence. Paine was the one to break the silence with, "Why are you wearing that outfit, Dyne?"

"Well I'm the white mage on this journey," Dyne said as he sopped up the last of the egg with his piece of toast, "I thought I should look the part."

"And you do," Baralai smiled as he sipped the last of his coffee, "you do the priests of yore proud."

Cressan had finished her morning exercises and had just gotten out of the shower when there was a knock at her door, "Hold on a moment." She called out wrapping a towel around herself, then opening the door to reveal her mother. "Mom, come in, come in."

"I have a gift for you, dear." Rikku held up an emerald green Ribbon accessory.

"Mom, your Ribbon, I can't take that." Cressan protested but Rikku ignored her.

"And I know just the place for it too," Rikku sat her daughter down in the chair at her vanity, grabbed a brush, and proceeded to smooth out Cressan's damp hair.

"But Mom, I can't take your Ribbon, I know how much it means to you."

"That's why I want you to have it," Rikku put down the brush and began to braid the Ribbon into Cressan's hair, "it protected me on my journey, now it will protect you on yours. Plus you're going to be guarding the others right, so you need all the immunities you can get. There," Rikku exclaimed after had finished tying the braid off with Cressan's special hair tie, "doesn't that look nice." Cressan looked into the mirror, her mother had braided together the long hair at her temples behind her head with the Ribbon while the rest of her hair remained down to her shoulder blades. "See dear, the green contrasts so well with your black hair."

Cressan had to admit, the Ribbon looked really good braided together with her hair, "Thanks Mom," but her mom had already disappeared into her closet. "Mom, what are you doing?"

"Picking out some matching clothes for you, you have to look good for your journey."

"Mom, I can pick out my own clothes," Cressan knew he mother would pick out something outlandish and probably uncomfortable, so she had to move fast, "besides I already know what I'm going to wear."

Rikku's head popped out of the closet, "Oh really, what?"

"Come out and I'll go get it." Rikku moved to sit on the bed while Cressan went into her closet and came out with a red shirt and blue jeans on.

"Nope," Rikku said immediately, "that won't work, it clashes with your new Ribbon, I'll pick out something."

"No you won't," Cressan replied going back into the closet, "I will." Cressan pulled off the red shirt and put on a white one, then on the spur of the moment, put on her green sleeveless cloak that went to he lower back, she emerged from the closet and waited for her mother's opinion.

Rikku was silent for a moment then stated, "The cloak is good, but the rest isn't. Make the shirt your spaghetti strap, and the jeans the ones with the green rose embroidery on the pockets, and you'll be good."

"I can live with that," Cressan smiled at her mother, she knew she was only trying to help. She promptly changed into the specified items, noting that she filled the shirt out better than she did last time, put on her favorite green sneakers, bracers, and Black Belt accessory, and left the closet for the final time.

"Much better," Rikku said hugging her daughter, "you really do look good in the simple classy stuff."

"I've always thought so, besides they are more comfortable than anything else." Cressan left her mother's arms and walked out to breakfast.

Auron heard his wife and daughter enter the kitchen and put two bowls of miso soup down at their usual places. Desudro was already there, as was Canahy, their youngest child, in her highchair. Both took their seats and started eating.

Desudro broke the normal silence of breakfast with, "Do you really have to leave today Sis?"

"Yes Des, Mom and Dad both went on a journey, now I am going on one of my own."

"But I don't want you to go." Desudro looked on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry," Cressan put a hand on her bother's shoulder, "I'll come back, I promise. And in the mean time, why don't you make a new machina to show me when I get home."

Desudro brightened up immensely when she said the word machina, "OK Sis, I will, I'll make it a big one too."

"Just don't blow up the shed in the process." And everyone at the table laughed.

Vidina got up when he heard his mom and dad talking in the living room. Looking at his sphere clock he realized that he had slept in, something he hadn't done in years. Vidina showered and dressed at lightning speed, putting on a long sleeve white shirt and dark gray pants, then covering the shirt with a black vest and slipping on his black fingerless gloves. Running a comb through his bright orange hair as he left the room, Vidina joined his parents in the living room. "Sorry I slept so late, I don't know what came over me."

"I do," Lulu said motioning for Vidina to sit down, "I put some Sleep Powder in your meal last night, you needed the rest."

"What, why on Spira would you do that?" Vidina was outraged, "I could have missed the deadline at sunset today, I might have slept right through it, I might have…"

Vidina's little rant was stopped with a quick splash of water to the face from Lulu's Water spell, "That's better; now Vidina, you are going on a journey today and you need to be well rested, at the pace you were going last night, you wouldn't have gotten any sleep, so I put a small amount of Sleep Powder in your food, just enough to make you drowsy."

Wakka continued, "We wouldn't have let ya sleep the day away, have a little bit of faith in us, ya."

"Ok I see your point," Vidina had to admit that he was panicking last night, "thanks for worrying about me, now I better go dry off and finish getting ready."

Vidina was just about to leave the room when Wakka said, "We've got a present for you when you come back, ok?" Vidina nodded and went back to his bedroom.

Once his face was dry, Vidina finished combing his hair and but it back into its usual short ponytail; as much as he liked his father's hairstyle, Vidina liked his own better. Slipping on his black loafers, Vidina walked back out to the living room where he sat down in the same spot as before. "Now, what's this about a present?"

Both his parents smiled and Lulu held out a pair of bracelets, one multi-colored and one with some runes on it. "We was going to give these to you on your next birthday, ya," Wakka explained, "but the time seemed right to give them to you now."

"This one," Lulu continued, handing the multi-colored bracelet to Vidina, "is a Tetra Bracelet accessory, it eats all four elements, and this one," handing him the rune covered one, "is a Wizard Bracelet accessory, it restores your MP as you move around. I'm sure they will prove useful on your journey."

Vidina stared at the two bracelets then equipped them, neither were quite his style, but he would gladly wear them for the benefits they gave. Giving both parents a hug, Vidina then asked the next question that was foremost on his mind, "Mom, what's for breakfast, I'm hungry."

"I made some biscuits and gravy," Lulu got up and went to the kitchen, "how many would you like?"

Both Wakka and Vidina moved to the kitchen table, "Three." was the answer from both of them.

Yuna walked into Cetan's dark room, and opened the curtains, making the room painfully bright, and waking up a still sleeping Cetan. He groaned and rolled away from the light when his eyes peaked open and saw Valefor's Feather leaning against his dresser. "Holy machina, it was real!" Cetan shouted sitting up quicker than Yuna expected him to, the two narrowly missed bonking heads as Yuna backed away from the bed.

"I was wondering why you didn't get up early," Yuna giggled, her son was just like her husband, neither liked to gut up, unless there was a special occasion, "now get dressed and come to breakfast, we've been waiting on you." And with that Yuna left her son to his privacy.

Cetan came out several minutes later wearing a teal polo shirt with a matching headband, beige pants, and his favorite blue and white tennis shoes. A Kinesis Badge accessory adorned the pocket of his shirt and he wore his usual Silver Glasses accessory as well. Cetan sat down at the table beside his sister and dad, and dove into the pile of French toast that was waiting for him.

"So you thought what happened yesterday was a dream, huh?" Tidus asked his son in a teasing way.

"Hey," Cetan playfully punched his dad, "a lot happened yesterday, I'm still a bit overwhelmed, to think that the others and I will have to save the whole time stream is a lot to process in just a few hours."

"I guess it is, sorry Son." Tidus ruffled his son's hair then went back to eating breakfast.

Cetan and Vidina spent the rest of the morning going over what they would need for their journey with Cressan and Dyne via the comspheres in each of their homes. When the Celsius finally arrived and picked up the two Besaidian families it was already two hours after noon, three hours by the time they got to the Moonflow, and four hours when they picked up Dyne and his family. The Celsius raced to the Calm Lands and everyone got to the appointed spot just as the sun began to set.

Bahamut appeared as if on cue, and the four children approached him ready to go. "Before you go, I suggest you bid your families goodbye, it will be awhile before you see them again." The children took the advice, putting down their weapons and going to their families, and after a few minutes and a few shed tears, the children picked up their weapons and belongings and refaced Bahamut. "Ok, form a circle," they did as they were told, "Now hold your weapons together in the middle and focus on the image you will receive," and the children saw as clear as day, a picture of the Macalania Woods exit to the Calm Lands, "we will give you the images you need to make the time jumps so do not worry. To time jump focus your energy through your weapons and keep the picture of your destination in the front of your mind, we will do the rest." And in a flash of light the children had disappeared leaving their families alone on the edge of the Calm Lands.

(A/N: I used a lot of accessories with innate abilities on them and the weapons the children use have their own abilities so I thought I'd take a moment to explain what those abilities are so you the reader aren't confused later.

Cressan uses Yojimbo's Zanmato which has the Time Flux (ability to attack Time Fiends and travel through time), Break Damage Limit, Piercing, and Double Overdrive abilities on it. Her two accessories are a Ribbon (gives immunity to all negative status effects) and a Black Belt (raises strength and defense by 20).

Dyne uses the Magus Orb which has the Time Flux, ½ MP Cost, White Magic level 5 (no lag between start of spell and completion), and Double Overdrive abilities on it. His two accessories are a White Cape (immunity to silence) and a Star Pendant (immunity to poison).

Vidina uses Anima's Staff which has the Time Flux, Magic Booster (spell power raised by 1.5 but MP used is doubled), Break Damage Limit, and One MP Cost (all spells for one MP) abilities on it. His two accessories are a Tetra Bracelet (turns elemental damage to HP) and a Wizard Bracelet (regain MP while walking).

Cetan uses Valefor's Feather which has the Time Flux, Evade & Counter (evade an enemy attack and attack back), Magic Counter (if hit by an enemy magic attack, attacks back), and Triple Overdrive abilities on it. His two accessories are a Kinesis Badge (immune to slow and stop) and Silver Glasses (immune to darkness).

Thanks for reading thus far and being such a wonderful audience, please click that review button if you have any thoughts at all about my story.)


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